Boy Who Lived: Father To Be
by Sweet Mercy
Summary: .ON HOLD. An article appears in the paper that turns Harrys world upside down. Knowing that most of the article is true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the Order. But life has to go on and Harry returns to school to face the music. MPREG, RLHP
1. Suprises in the Paper

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy (my first fic under this name! yay!)

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP **BUT** has references to DM/HP, SB/HP, and DT/HP.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be**

**Chapter 1: Surprises in the Paper**

_Boy-Who-Lived is Father-To-Be_

_Harry Potter. Perhaps one of the most famous wizards of all time. His adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are known world wide. But this week, Mr Potter has been noticed for something else._

_The boy-who-lived was seen yesterday afternoon leaving his home in Surrey with a rather large bump which could only suggest one thing; the teen hero is pregnant._

_Mr Potter, who turns 17 next month, isn't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, therefore he could not cover up his condition with a few simple spells the way he probably has over the last few months at school which is why his pregnancy has only just been discovered._

"Looking at these photos, I'd say he's about 6 months gone," _said a Mrs Mary Debrew, a Mid Wife at St Mungo's Hospital in London. _

"Male pregnancies are pretty much the same as female ones, only a bit more messy when it comes to the birth,"_ she explained. _"The birth requires a potion to be taken when the patient is in labour, but the actual conceivement of the child comes about as any other pregnancy might; from lack of protection."

_The teen will be able to use magic again to cover up the pregnancy once he turns 17 next month. However, with him due to give birth in September, we at _The Daily Prophet _had some questions to ask, especially after we talked to a few of his fellow students._

"I didn't even know he was gay, let alone up the duff_!" said Draco Malfoy, a shocked friend of Mr Potters. _"Then again, he was always trying to feel me up in Potions Class; I should have guessed he was queer."

_If Potter was in fact making inappropriate moves on Mr Draco Malfoy then what has been done about it at the school? Surely someone should be warned of this?_

"I don't think he was seeing anyone,"_ said Miss Pansy Parkinson, another student at the school. _"It must have been a one night stand or something, it's the sort of thing he's do."

_Do we really want the wizarding world's hero to be a 'teenage slut'? Are we, as a nation, comfortable to put our trust into the boy when these are the sorts of things he gets up to?_

_We have made sure that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, was made aware of the situation but he refused to comment._

_Many may sympathise for Mr Potter, having no parents and bringing brought up by muggles, but surely this isn't what we all expected him to turn into? Is this maybe a cry for help? Or just an act of stupidity to bring himself attention?_

_Either way, with the fate of the World resting in Harry Potter's hands, can the teen really juggle You-Know-Who and a baby?_

Harry stared at the giant picture on the front page and watched as he got into the car, hand on his giant belly, and he felt his world closing in on him from all sides. He was numb. All he could do was stare at himself in the picture. There was no way he could get out of this one. He was done for.

* * *

Well? Yes? No? Maybe? Please Review and tell me what you think! I know this chapter is short, but the next ones are longer.


	2. Rescue

**Title:** Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author:** SweetMercy (my first fic under this name! yay!)

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings:** RL/HP **BUT** has references to DM/HP, SB/HP, and DT/HP.

**Summery:** One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N:** Thank you all for your reviews! Glad you liked it! This chapter, however, is boring but necessary (did i spell that right?). I would have made it longer but it just makes sense to have this chapter on its own. As some of you may have noticed, this is a romance/mystery, the mystery bit may explain some things in the first 5 chapters or so.

**Chapter 2: Rescue**

Harry re-read the article again and again, trying to get it to sink in. It seemed impossible. How could this be real? How could this have happened? The whole world knew. Everybody.

He couldn't _believe_ they had done this to him. Didn't he have the _right_ to privacy? Wasn't the Ministry supposed to be making sure stupid articles like _this_ didn't end up in the paper about him? Weren't the Order supposed to be keeping all magic folk _away_ from Privet Drive? God damn it, why wasn't _anyone_ doing there job!

He looked back at the picture again, heart sinking. The only reason he was outside looking like a balloon was because his Uncle had made him come along, refusing to leave him alone in the house in case those 'magical freaks' turned up to interview him; what would the neighbours think? Harry had argued that by going outside the neighbours might see him anyway along with the rest of the muggles. But his Uncle had dragged him out and, once in London, had left Harry in the car whilst they did their shopping, but the damage had still been done thanks to some bloody reporter who wasn't _even supposed to be there in the first place!_ Why bother, right? And it was only the first day of the summer holidays as well. It was bad enough that the Dursleys were treating him like something from a freak show!

And what was this shit from Malfoy? _He was always trying to feel me up…_Why the hell would Harry do that? I mean, yeah he and Harry had had something going for the _shortest time ever_ last year but he had never felt him up! But he wouldn't think about that right now…

And why the hell would the world believe that anyway? And the paper calling him a_ slut_! Ha! Cry for help? For attention? Why the hell would he get pregnant for attention? Had the world gone completely mad?

In his anger Harry screwed up the paper up and chucked it across his room where it bounced off the wall and landed softy on the floor where Harry continued to glare at it as if daring it to come closer. He could feel tears starting to well up in his eyes. Why did everything bad always happen to him?

The truth was that yes, Harry Potter was indeed pregnant. But he didn't know exactly how far gone he was. He hadn't even realised he was pregnant until he started gaining all this weight around his belly and he was constantly throwing up and having these weird cravings for foods he didn't even know _were_ food.

And the paper had also got right that yes, the reason Harry had been 'showing' was because he wasn't able to do magic outside of school just yet and he really hadn't wanted to risk it in case the Ministry wanted to know why he was doing a Glamour charm everyday.

And yes, Harry _did_ wonder if could juggle a baby and fight Voldemort at the same time. He was worried God damn it! He had _no one _to talk to about this! 6 months (if he was in fact 6 months) he had gone without asking for help or advice. He had gone through all this on his own because he was so damn ashamed of himself! The father didn't even know!

But Harry had reason for not letting the father know, which was another reason he was so ashamed of himself. The truth was, he didn't even know who the father of his baby was. Oh, he knew who the_ possible_ fathers were, but he really didn't want to make himself think about all that. Not now. Not when he had bigger things to deal with. Not when he was alone and pregnant with no one to help him.

With all that hanging over him, Harry slowly crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over his head, now defeated by the tears that were slowly tumbling down his cheeks.

* * *

"Harry, wake up." 

"He's sound asleep Albus. Maybe we should just set off a loud noise…"

"Come on Harry, it's time to go."

"Clearly, this ain't working Albus. If you'd just let me…"

"Harry, Harry wake up. We have to go now."

"Have you got a whistle or something? Or a fire cracker? That should wake him up. Or you could just yell a little louder, old man, 'cause you ain't gonna wake no one up by whispering."

"Mundungus, please be quiet."

"What's the point in being quiet when we're trying to wake him up?"

An arm on him shaking him awake softly. Voices talking. A light flickering.

Harry opened his eyes slowly, shielding them from the light that assaulted them. He looked up. Albus Dumbledore smiled down at him, his bright blue eyes dancing in the light. Next to him stood Mundungus Fletcher.

"What're you doing here?" Harry asked groggily, pushing himself up in bed.

"Taking you to Grimmauld Place," said Dumbledore. "Come on. No time to have a shower, just throw some clothes on."

Harry pushed his covers back and rolled slowly out of bed, suddenly aware of the huge bump he was sporting. Trying to ignore it, he stood up and grabbed his robes which were hanging over the back of a chair. Dumbledore smiled then disappeared through his bedroom door.

He fastened his robes in silence, leaving his pyjama bottoms on. He had expected the others to send him letters, yelling at him and asking why he hadn't told them. But he really hadn't thought he would wake up at…he looked at his clock…9:30 at night…quite early actually…to find his headmaster in his room. He really didn't want to have to face the others just yet.

After Harry had gotten all his things together (which didn't take long at all) he went downstairs into the living room, thanking Merlin that his Aunt and Uncle were out at a dinner party and Dudley was busy playing computer games in his room.

"Ready?" asked Dumbledore as he saw Harry enter the room followed by Mundungus, who was carrying most of Harry's stuff. Harry nodded, still uncomfortably aware of how big he was.

"Right, come here then," he said. "Grab hold of this."

* * *

Harry's feet touched hard ground but he managed to stay standing up. He looked around and found that he was in the familiar kitchen at number 12. Pots and pans littered the side boards waiting to be cleaned and the remains of a meal were scattered across the wooden table in the middle of the room. The smell of coffee was hanging in the air and he could hear the sound of voices coming from down the hall. 

"Mundungus will take your things to your room," said Dumbledore kindly, grabbing Harry's attention. "We, on the other hand, need to talk."

It was then that Harry noticed a copy of The Daily Prophet sat on the table.

Harry nodded without looking up at Dumbledore, that feeling of shame coming back to him. He would have to face the inevitable sooner or later. But if he had to talk to someone about it, the first people he would really prefer to talk to would be…

"Ron and Hermione are upstairs in the drawing room," said Dumbledore and he smiled when Harry looked up. "When you're ready, I'll be in the front room."

As Harry passed the front room, he caught a glimpse of Sirius, Remus, and some other Order members. Sirius looked completely distracted from the conversation around him and Remus just looked plain worried. Harry bit his bottom lip and headed towards the stairs, willing himself not to think about _that. _He couldn't know for sure, not yet.

He reached the Drawing room, knocked, and entered. Evidently, the room had had quite a makeover.

The room looked much cosier now that the walls had been painted a rich red colour with gold patterned boarders. The doxy-infested drapes had been swapped for dark purple ones and all the broken cupboards and selves had been removed; instead, cabinets of dark pine stood against the walls. All the dark artefacts had been removed and replaced with photos of Sirius's school days, all in bronze frames. The tapestry, however, was still present.

Hermione and Ron looked up from the sofa in the middle of the room. There was a silence in which they all stared at each other for a few moments and Harry could feel their eyes on his stomach. He looked away. Surprisingly, it was Ron who broke the silence.

"We've been so worried about you mate," he said and Harry looked back up at them. "Why the hell didn't you tell us?"

"Because I…and you wouldn't have…and I couldn't…" He felt the tears fighting to get out and he bit his lip and looked away again. Hermione, however, came over to him and pulled him into a tight hug which he welcomed gratefully.

"Oh Harry, what's wrong?" she asked softly, as she led him back to the sofa.

"Hormones," he sniffed. But he couldn't lie to them, not anymore. "Oh God, you don't know how much this has been killing me. I've wanted to tell you, really I have, but I couldn't because I was so scared, of what you would think about it all and now look where I am!"

"Oh, Harry, it's ok sweetie," she said soothingly, pulling him into another hug. It was nice, just sitting there, lost in her arms as she muttered words of comfort to him. He held onto her as if he could loose her any minute, savouring the moment he had craved so much; to be hugged, to be comforted, to know that he had somebody with him who cared and who would help. After the tears had died down, Harry reluctantly pulled out of the hug.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" she asked.

* * *


	3. That's What Friends are for

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy (my first fic under this name! yay!)

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP **BUT** has references to DM/HP, SB/HP, and DT/HP.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music

**A/N: **This chapter was orginally going to be posted in two chapters, but since it seemed way too short I put them togther (because I'm clever like that) lol. And yep, Sirius IS alive in this. And I have the flu...

Chapter 3: That's What Friends are for

Harry pulled his legs up next to him and rested his arm protectively on his stomach as Hermione lit a fire in the empty grate across from them. The small blaze jumped into life, lighting and warming the room instantly as if it had been burning for hours, crackling away merrily. The flickering light sent shadows dancing over the walls of the room and Harry watched them somewhat interestedly.

"So," said Hermione, sitting back down next to Harry. "You're gay?"

Eyes still fixed on the dancing shadows, Harry nodded.

"When did you first realise?" she asked.

"I knew for sure in sixth year," he told them quietly, "but I guess I always had it in me."

"How so?" she asked, placing a hand on his arm encouragingly. Harry sighed.

"I dunno…like in fifth year when I was with Cho…I mean, I liked her you know? But I couldn't be bothered most of the time…I lost interest in her…but then I seemed to lose interest in girls altogether." He was finding it awkward to talk about this with them. After all, he had never talked to anyone about being gay apart from Sirius…but that was something he couldn't let himself think about either…

"Go on," said Ron.

"I used to…subconsciously…look at guys in the corridors and stuff, but I didn't realise I was doing it until I actually sat down and thought about it last year, and when the others in the dormitory were talking about girls and stuff, I was never that enthusiastic about it…"

Surprisingly, this was actually getting easier to talk about. Tearing his eyes away from the shadows, he looked at them.

"I found myself starting to think about guys," he continued. "I was more interested in them and I _knew_ I was but I wouldn't admit it to myself, if that makes sense? Anyway, after about a month or so after I realised what I was doing and what it meant, I started to accept it."

He daren't tell them he used to check the boys out in the showers. That was going a _little bit_ too far and was defiantly more than they needed to know.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Ron. "You could have talked to us about it, we'd understand."

"Ron's right Harry," said Hermione. "We're here for you."

"I know," said Harry, looking away. "I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure what you would think."

"Well now you know," said Ron. "It's you choice mate, we want you to be happy. We'll accept you no matter what. Even if you had a sex change."

Harry laughed quietly.

"See? A smile. That's more like it," smiled Hermione.

"Thanks guys," said Harry. "Really."

"Don't mention it," smiled Ron. Harry hated himself. All this time he had kept it all from his best friends, the people who had been through hell and back with him. He couldn't believe he had ever doubted them. But Ron was talking again. "_But,_ moving on to the next thing…"

Harry's heart sank.

"The baby," said Hermione. "I can understand you didn't tell us because we didn't know you were gay, but Harry! A baby! 6 months you went without telling us!"

"I know, it was stupid of me," he said, "but I was scared Hermione. It's like the papers said, I'm just some slut and…"

"Harry James Potter! How can you say that about yourself?"

"But it's true!"

"Don't put yourself down Harry!"

Harry was going to open his mouth to argue back, but changed his mind. He couldn't argue with them, not now. He needed them. Besides, they didn't even know…

"If you don't mind me asking," said Ron, "but who's the other father?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered, looking away.

"But you must know, you slept…"

"I don't know, alright?"

"You've slept with more than one guy?" asked Hermione timidly.

Harry nodded.

"Who are they?"

"I can't say," he told them.

"But…"

"I don't want to think about it, so just leave it," he said, trying to keep from shouting.

"Well, how many did you sleep with?" she pressed. "Just the two?"

"Please, Hermione, can we just leave this?" He was loosing heart for this conversation fast. If she didn't stop trying to poke around in his private life…

"No Harry, you're one of my best friends and I'm going to help you. Now tell me!"

"Four, ok? I've slept with four different guys in the passed half year and any one of them could be the father! Satisfied? And no, I don't know how far gone I am! Yeah, I could be 6 months like the papers say, but I don't know! I slept with them all in the space of just two months so it could be any of theirs! Until I know exactly how far gone I am, I haven't got the faintest clue whose it is, and even then I still can't be sure!"

They sat there silent again, just staring at him with utter surprise. Harry was sure for a moment that he had seen something like disgust in their eyes, but it was quickly drown out by concerned. Harry felt the tears coming back again due to his emotional outburst but he held them back. Finally, Ron spoke.

"We're here for you Harry," he said slowly.

"Every step of the way," said Hermione. "That's what friends are for."

That set the tears off again, and Hermione pulled him into another tight hug.

* * *

Before Harry went back downstairs to talk to his Headmaster, he got showered and dressed properly. Hermione did a spell on his trousers so they would fit comfortably around his stomach and started fussing, almost Molly like, about the foods he had been eating and so on. Despite the feeling of dread that was filling him up, he couldn't help but smile. 

Harry made his way down the stairs quietly and crossed the hall over to the front room. He stopped outside of the door, trying to catch something of the conversation that was going on. They didn't seem to be talking about him which was a blessing. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door, thankful that Hermione had done such a good job on his clothes that the fact that he was pregnant wasn't so obvious anymore; she had refused to do a glamour charm saying that too many of them weren't good for the baby.

He stepped into the room. Dumbledore was sat on the far side, next to the fire which was crackling merrily. Next to him was his Transfiguration teacher, Professor Mcgonagall. Molly and Arthur Weasley were also there. Nearest to Harry, were Sirius and Remus. Both looked uneasy but were doing their best to hide it. Harry didn't blame them; they had reason to look worried. But he couldn't think about that now…

Trying not to look at both Sirius and Remus, Harry turned to Dumbledore. "You wanted to see me Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled and turned to the rest of the group. "Would you kindly let Harry and I…"

"Of course Headmaster," said Molly getting up. The rest of the group followed her out of the room. Remus walked straight passed him without a look. Sirius however, stopped.

"I think we need to talk Harry," he said quietly and Harry nodded, although he knew he wasn't going to talk with him. He couldn't talk about _that_.

When Sirius shut the door behind him, Harry sat down and worried his bottom lip again. He knew Dumbledore wouldn't shout at him for this – he would help him more than anything – but he would want to know just what Harry had been thinking, keeping it all to himself, just like Ron and Hermione had. He would also ask about the father.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore to find that the old man was looking straight at him, right in the eye, and Harry looked away quickly. He couldn't let Dumbledore read his mind and Harry felt that he himself wasn't up to using his own Occlumency skills right now.

Dumbledore sighed and sat down opposite Harry.

"Now, Harry, I want you to know that I am not angry with you," he said, and Harry nodded. "I am, however, concerned. You didn't even tell you're closest friends about the situation. Now I know you had reason not to," he added on seeing Harry about to protest, "but I wish you had at least told somebody. This is quite serious Harry."

Harry continued to sit quietly without looking at his Headmaster. What was he supposed to say?

"Do you know how far gone you are exactly, Harry?"

"No Sir," he answered. "I'm guessing I'm around 6 months though, like the papers say, since that was round about when I…" Harry faltered.

"Slept with the Father of your child," Dumbledore finished for him. Harry nodded, choosing not to reveal that he didn't actually _know_ who the father was.

"Sir, why did the papers write about that?" he asked. "I don't mean to sound egotistic here or anything, but wouldn't this affect the war – everybody knowing I'm…pregnant?"

Dumbledore smiled sadly and sighed again before answering.

"You are quite right Harry," he said. "But over the passed couple of weeks The Daily Prophet has been publishing some rather personal stuff, quite a number of which are jeopardising our chances in the war. It seems the Ministry has lost control over the paper and doesn't have a say in what is published anymore. Oh, no, it hasn't got anything to do with Deatheaters," he added again on seeing Harry once more about to say something about it, "at least, I don't think it does anyway. No, they simply decided that the public had the right to know anything and everything what was going on, no matter what the consequences."

"Well that's just great," Harry muttered sarcastically.

"We have to be careful who we speak to at the Ministry now. There's a good chance information will end up being divulged to someone at the Prophet or even a Deatheater."

"There still at the Ministry?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes," Dumbledore said. "There are quite a number of them actually. The problem is, we don't know who is a Voldemort supporter or not…But we're getting off track here; this isn't what I needed to talk to you about."

"But I'm almost 17! Aren't I old enough to join the Order yet? I'm gonna find out everything anyway. And don't you think it's better to tell me what's going on before I end up doing something stupid again? It makes sense!"

"Yes, it does Harry. But I'm afraid that until you are of age and out of school, then you can not join. We wouldn't want you to be hurt or…"

"I'm going to get hurt anyway! I'm Harry bloody Potter! You know what the prophecy says; I have to kill him or the other way around!"

"We are getting off track again…"

"But this is important!" he shouted.

"Harry, you know the rules. I can not allow you or Ron or Hermione to join."

Harry opened his mouth to argue his case further, but before he could say anything a sharp pain shot across his stomach and he lurched forward in a cry of pain. He screwed his eyes tight shut and that feeling of shame came back to him. He opened his eyes to find that Dumbledore was now sitting next to him, a comforting arm around him, looking so worried and sympathetic it was hard to stay mad at him. The pain passed slowly, but the tears continued to fall down his cheeks. He was so tempted to just rest his head on the old mans shoulder, just to let himself be comforted and looked after.

"Harry, what's wrong?" he asked kindly, when he saw that Harry was still crying. Harry shook his head.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong," he said.

"It's just…"

"Yes?"

"I'm really worried. And not just about the war. I'm 6 months pregnant but I haven't been giving it much thought. I haven't been looking after myself and the baby. I haven't been resting or eating right or finding out how this birth is supposed to happen. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with the baby after it's born. I mean, I haven't got the slightest clue at all!"

"Sshh, it's ok Harry, we're here," he said soothingly, and Harry put his head on Dumbledore's shoulder.

"But I don't know how to dress the baby, or what to feed it, or how to bath it. I don't know how to look after my baby. I keep getting these pains in my stomach but I don't know what to do. I'm a terrible father! I can't even look after my baby when it's still inside me!"

Harry was well aware that he sounded like a hysterical mother but he didn't care. He allowed the tears to carry on flowing.

"Harry, you are not a terrible father, nor will you ever be," said Dumbledore kindly. "You're just new to this; new and alone. But we're here for you. All your friends are with you through this. We'll make sure you're ok. We'll all help out with the pregnancy and the baby once it's here."

Harry was quiet for a moment as the tears rolled down his cheeks. He looked up.

"Promise?" he sniffed.

"Promise," said Dumbledore with a smile, and he pulled Harry into a hug.

"Thank you," said Harry quietly, brushing his tears away.

"It's no problem at all my dear boy," he answered. "Now, first thing's first. We need to get you booked in for an appointment at the Hospital."

* * *

After Harry had calmed down, he made his way up the stairs and to his bedroom. He pulled off his clothes and snuggled into bed, thankful that the day was finally over. 

He didn't feel embarrassed for breaking down in front of his Headmaster like that. If anything, he actually felt relived, refreshed, and a lot easier than he had been before. He had told Dumbledore about his fears and he had offered to help Harry in all ways possible. Harry was very grateful indeed.

He still had his doubts about all of this though, but he figured it must only be natural. Every expectant parent was going to get 'cold feet' right? And besides, he had help now.

He snuggled deeper into his bed covers, glad for the warmth and comfort they offered. He was exhausted from all the crying he had done today. He didn't think he had ever felt so emotionally drained before.

* * *

Thank you so much to all those who reviwed the last chapter! I love you all!

To that person who flamed: Can't you read? It DOES say mpreg and slash which kind of gives it away that a male is going to be having a baby. If you don't like it, don't read. Simple as. But thank you for reviewing and boosting the number of reviews all the same!


	4. A Visit to St Mungo's

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy (my first fic under this name! yay!)

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP **BUT** has references to others. (If you want to know what others, check chapter 1)

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N:** **The Father** - Alot of you lovely people want to know who the father is. Well, I can't tell you that, not yet anyway. In the next 4 or 5 chapters (not including this one) you WILL find out who the possible fathers are though, promise. And yes, this is Remus/Harry, they will get together eventually, never fear...but that doesn't mean to say that Remus is the father...or does it? Mwhahahahaha! Anyway...

Chapter 4: A Visit to St Mungo's

Harry went downstairs the next morning and was instantly greeted by the smell of bacon and eggs. Now, normally Harry would have jumped at the chance to have a proper breakfast in the morning, but the baby didn't seem to like that smell at all, so by the time he eventually made it to the front room, breakfast was well over and Harry was exhausted once more from throwing up.

"Good morning Harry," Molly said cheerfully as he took a seat among the others. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine," Harry lied, not having the heart to tell her that the smell of her cooking had disagreed with him. "You?"

"Well," she said. "I've been ever so worried about you; we all have. But, I'm glad you're here now, safe and sound."

"Me to," Harry smiled.

Harry sat silent for a while, preferring to listen to the conversations around him rather than join in, enjoying the feeling of being around his friends again, knowing that he didn't have to go through this hell alone anymore. True, Sirius was sat opposite him trying to get his attention but Harry wouldn't look at him. After all, he had only just started to accept the pregnancy, he wasn't about to start worrying about…other things.

He listened contently as Ron, Mundungus, and Kingsley argued over the Quidditch European Cup and the chances of Ireland winning that, as they had already won the World Cup 3 years ago. France were favourites for winning, according to Kingsley, closely followed by Portugal. England had already been knocked out, which wasn't surprising really as the whole team had lost heart for the game as they hadn't won a match in years.

"The World Cup's happening again next year," said Ron, looking at Mrs Weasley. "Think dad could get tickets again?"

"You'd have to ask him," she said, looking up from her conversation with Professor Mcgonagall, who Harry had only just realised was there. She smiled at Harry before turning back to Mrs Weasley. Harry couldn't help but think about all the other teachers at school; what would they all think about this? _Well_, he thought to himself, _Snape was going to have a lot of fun._

"Ah, Harry! You're awake! Good."

Harry looked up to see Dumbledore strolling into the living room, dressed in deep purple robes with a silver trim. He took a seat next to Harry and smiled at him

"I have made you an appointment at the Hospital for today," he told him. "It's this afternoon at 1:30."

"Thank you so much," said Harry, really meaning it.

"Don't mention it," Dumbledore smiled.

"Are you going to come with me?" Harry asked. "I really don't think I could go on my own."

"Of course," he smiled again, "I wouldn't let you go alone."

The rest of the morning went by pretty quickly. He spent most of the time with Ron and Hermione thinking up funny names that he would never dream to call the baby, such as Wolverine and Cyclops, which Ron had gotten from a muggle comic called 'X-men' that his dad had recently started to collect. He did, however, like the sound of some of the more unusual names that Hermione had suggested, most of which came from books she had read, like Armand and Lestat (from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice), but still wouldn't give the baby any of those names.

Sirius stopped by his room a couple of times to 'see how he was getting on' but Harry knew he wanted to talk. Thankfully, he had Ron and Hermione with him and Harry knew that Sirius wouldn't dare talk about _that_ in front of them.

At 12:30, Dumbledore suggested that they better get going if they were going to get there. They had to take muggle transport since Harry wasn't in any state to use a port key, the floo network, or the Knight Bus. They decided that a taxi would be best, but they had to do the Glamour Charm on Harry, so they wouldn't attract any unwanted muggle attention, something which both Hermione and Mrs Weasley both objected to as too many spells performed on Harry was bad for the baby, but in the end they agreed they had no other way. Besides, what could one more hurt?

The taxi ride was most uneventful. Dumbledore had obviously travelled this way before as he didn't fuss over things the way a wizard, mainly Arthur Weasley, would have. But then again, Dumbledore really wasn't the type of wizard to do that.

Harry stepped out of the taxi as Dumbledore paid the man in the front and shut the door. They were outside the red-bricked department store 'Purge & Dowse Ltd' once more. The magical display in the window was as shabby and as out-of-date as ever. The few muggles walking passed weren't paying it any attention at all, hurrying along to shop in 'New Look' and 'Morgan' across the road.

Harry followed Dumbledore over to the window, noticing the 'Closed for Refurbishment' sign was still hanging on the rusted door. As Dumbledore explained why they were there to the dummy in the window, Harry wondered what was actually on the other side of the shop door. He supposed it was the Hospital, but then the Hospital was far too big to fit in this store.

"Right Harry," said Dumbledore, "Walk through."

He stepped forwards and walked through the window, emerging on the other side. Lots of witches and wizards were hurrying about, some dressed in lime-green healer robes. Harry followed Dumbledore through the crowd and over to the reception desk at the far end. He was very aware of just how many people were looking at him, although not all the stares he was receiving were one's of disgust; quite a few were sympathetic. Some people waved at him and offered their congratulations. Others, however, just glared at him and shook their heads. Harry gulped and continued across the room, staying close to Dumbledore.

"Good Afternoon, how can I help you?" smiled the blonde witch at the desk.

"Good Afternoon," smiled Dumbledore. "I'm here with Mr Harry Potter, he has an appointment. Could you tell me where we have to go please?"

"One sec…" She flicked through a book on her desk, running her polished finger down the columns. "…Potter…Here we are. Harry Potter, 1:30. You're on the Ground floor. Down the hall, turn right, through the double doors, and head towards the Maternity/Paternity Ward."

"Thank you very much," Dumbledore smiled, and they set off again.

They followed the directions the witch had given them and eventually came to a large waiting room, mostly full of expectant women. Harry did spot a few pregnant men as they headed towards some empty seats though, which made Harry feel a little bit better.

Dumbledore checked them in than sat down next to Harry, who was growing nervous. He knew it was only a check up but what if something was wrong?

"You alright Harry?" asked Dumbledore.

"I'll be fine," he answered. "Just a bit worried in case something's wrong."

"I'm sure everything will be ok," he reassured him. "Which reminds me, we better take of the Glamour charm."

He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell. Harry saw his stomach grow bigger and he pulled his robes close around him.

They sat in silence for about 20 minutes, watching the patients come and go. Some parents had brought their children along who were running up and down the waiting room noisily. Finally, a witch with long red hair tied back came out.

"Harry Potter."

Harry slowly stood up, very aware of all the eyes looking his way. Thankfully, most of them were smiling fondly which meant that they hadn't taken that article in the paper completely seriously. When Dumbledore didn't stand, Harry looked down at him.

"Aren't you coming in with me?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I thought you would want to do this on your own," he said kindly.

"But I can't. I need someone in there with me," Harry said, and he could feel himself getting nervous and scared again. "You said you'd be there for me and I need you now."

"But isn't this the sort of thing the parents should do together?"

"I'm a single parent right now and I'm asking you as a friend, not a student. Please Professor." Harry would beg if he didn't come in there with him, he really would. Dumbledore chuckled.

"You say you're not asking me as a student and yet you call me 'Professor'," he said with a smile. "Are you sure you want me to…"

"Yes! Please, I can't do this alone," Harry said with a pleading look.

"Very well," he said, and he got up and accompanied Harry through the door and into the room.

"Good Afternoon to you both," said the witch. "My name is Aurora Neeson and I'm the one who is going to be looking after you for the next few months. If you have any queries, don't hesitate to ask. Now, just lay down on this bed for me here Mr Potter."

Harry lay down on the bed, feeling slightly nervous. There were lots of machines in this room that he didn't like the look of. He had to keep reminding himself that it was a standard check up.

"Do you know exactly how far gone you are?" she asked kindly and Harry shook his head.

"Not to worry," she smiled. "I'll just do this…" she waved her wand over his stomach, "…and this…" she tapped a machine with her wand which sprang into life, "…and this," she said as she tapped his stomach with the wand again. All the while, Dumbledore had been watching interestedly, but Harry hadn't got the slightest clue of what she was doing.

"Arh, here we are," she smiled. "You're 5 months and roughly 1 week pregnant. We can't be accurate with the days."

"So when is the due date?" asked Dumbledore.

"Should be due towards the end of October. Again, we can't be accurate with the days."

Harry watched as the witch smiled and went back to fiddling around with the machine and her wand. His mind seemed to be racing, yet he wasn't getting anywhere. 5 months, 1 week…which meant that the father was…? He had no idea. He needed a quill and parchment to work out all the calculations. But even then he might not be sure. Three of his…encounters…were only days apart – he remembered that bit as he had been going through a tough time and had welcomed all the comfort he could get.

"Now," she said, waking Harry from his thoughts. "I'm just going to do a routine check up to make sure that everything is in tip-top shape."

She did a few more wand movements and examined the machine as Harry's mind wondered again. He noticed that Dumbledore was looking at him strangely and Harry turned to him with questioning eyes but the headmaster just shook his head politely.

The healer turned back to them.

"Everything seems to be going ok," she said, "All nice and healthy. However, I recommend you get some rest Mr Potter. You may not think it, but too much stress and anger can really affect a child in the womb. Exercise is always a good thing during the early and middle stages of a pregnancy, but don't over do yourself. Take some time to just chill out, have a relaxing bath, read a good book, just _don't_ over do yourself Harry."

Harry nodded, tongue in cheek. He knew all that stress was going affect the baby, but he couldn't help feeling like that.

Dumbledore smiled. "Don't worry Miss Neeson, we'll take good care of him."

"I take it he's in good hands then?" she smiled. "Well, in that case, I need say no more on it."

She got up and came over to Harry who was still lying down on the bed. She lifted her wand above his large stomach once more and muttered a spell, then returned to the machine. Then she smiled again.

"You see that there?" she asked softly, pointing to a small but distinguishable shape on the machines screen. "Those are your babies."

Harry didn't know if his heart skipped with joy or stopped with fear.

"My….my what?"

"Babies, Mr Potter, babies."

"Plural? There's two of them?"

"Arh," she said. "I take it you didn't know it was triplets then?"

"Triplets?" Harry's voice was now dangerously high. "There's _three_ of them! Oh shit." And with that, he fainted.

* * *

He came round a couple of minutes later. Healer Neeson was dabbing at his forehead with a wet cloth and Dumbledore was at his side, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. 

"Welcome back Mr Potter," smiled the Healer as Harry sat up.

"Wha…what happened?" he asked, looking up at them both.

"You found out you were having triplets and you fainted," smiled Dumbledore and Harry could have sworn he heard something like humour in the old mans voice.

"Triplets…" Harry repeated as if in a trance. "Oh my God, I'm having triplets. I'm not ready for triplets. I can't handle one child let alone triplets. I can't have triplets. What am I going to do with triplets? I don't want triplets!"

"Harry, calm yourself," said Dumbledore, making Harry look at him. "Now, first thing's first; stop saying 'triplets'."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded.

"Secondly Harry, there's no need to panic," he continued. "We're here for you, the whole Order is here, and we will help out in any and every way possible."

Harry nodded and took another deep breath. He could do this. He had help. He could do this.

"Now," said the healer softly, "you alright? You need anything?"

Did he need anything? Well, he could have used some protection 5 months ago!

Harry shook his head. "No…no, I'm cool."

"Sure? Good," she smiled. "Now Mr Potter, you think you're up to seeing your babies?"

Harry nodded slowly and turned back to look at her. She pointed at the machines screen and Harry's eyes followed.

He bit his lip to fight back the tears as he looked at the little bodies on the screen. He could clearly make out three heads, arms, and legs, all cuddled up together inside his womb. It was surprising they could all fit in him.

"Those are my babies?" he asked with wonderment.

"Those are your babies," she smiled again.

Harry continued to look at them, a nice, warm sensation flooding through him. He no longer felt the shame eating away at him, but pride; he had helped make those babies, he had created life, lots of life. _Triplets._

"Professor, look," he whispered softly, reaching out for Dumbledore's hand but not taking his eyes off the screen. "It's my babies."

"Do you want to know what sex they are?" she asked with a smile. Harry nodded eagerly, trying to hold back the tears that kept coming (which, despite feeling overwhelmed from seeing his babies, he blamed on the hormones).

"Well, Harry," she smiled, "you're having two girls and a boy. Congratulations."

* * *

"Triplets, can you believe it?" Harry said with wonder as they walked towards number 12. "I'm having triplets." 

"It's wonderful Harry, really it is," smiled Dumbledore.

"I mean, I know I was a little shocked at first but I'm ok now," he smiled, as they reached the door.

"A little shocked? Harry, you were completely freaking out," laughed Dumbledore.

"I was not," said Harry as they entered the hall.

"You fainted," Dumbledore pointed out with a smile as he shut the door behind them.

"Everybody faints once in a while," said Harry, and they both laughed.

They made their way to the front room and went in. Ron and Hermione were sat nearest the window with Remus and Tonks sat opposite. Sirius was sat nearest the door. They all looked up when they came in.

"I thought I heard voices," said Tonks, hair falling elegantly down her back in golden waves.

"How did it go?" asked Hermione. "Is everything ok? How about the baby?"

"Everything's fine," Harry smiled. "All nice and healthy."

"And how far gone are you?" asked Ron, and Remus looked at Harry for the first time since he had arrived. Harry pretended he hadn't noticed and carried on smiling.

"Just over 5 months," he told them.

"And do you know if the baby is a boy or girl?" asked Tonks. Dumbledore smiled behind him before taking a seat next to Sirius.

"Yeah I do," he smiled. "Two girls and a boy."

"Two…and a…?" Ron stuttered.

"Yep," Harry smiled. "I'm having triplets."

* * *

A big thankyou to all those who reviewed! Please, be my guest and do it again:-) 


	5. Sirius

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HPbut has references to others.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. It's summer so my stupid heyfever had kicked in and it's a right pain. I can't even go outside at times, it's that bad. I get it every year, but every other year it's really bad, and this year seems to be the bad year. And being all ill makes me lazy which is why you had a longer wait than usual. Sorry if there is mistakes in this as well; too ill to read right now.

**Chapters/Father:** I can't answer most of your questions as that would be giving away too much. But you all seem pretty anxious to know about the babies father. Well, this is the first chapter that get some things explained, and all of the next few chaptes will do that as well. I wasn't sure how to set this out; let Harry tell all in one chapter, or drag it out over a few. Mwhahaha! I decided to drag it out for effect. lol. Hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 5: Sirius

The news that Harry was pregnant with triplets soon spread through the house to the ears of the rest of the Order. Every time Harry passed one of them, they would stop and congratulate him and offer their help; some, like Mundungus, even bought him presents.

Harry was worried that the papers might find out and release this information to the world, but, as Hermione pointed out, the only way that was going to happen was if someone from the Order spilled the news or if the Hospitals files were raided, both pretty unlikely.

By the end of the week, Harry had the whole house fussing over him. Dumbledore had told them what Healer Neeson had said; that Harry needed to relax and take it easy. He soon found out that he had most of them waiting on him hand and foot. They kept popping into his room asking if he wanted anything to eat or drink or simply seeing if he was comfortable. A small part of Harry felt guilty about all the fussing the others were doing over him, but he couldn't help but smile. They'd really come together and helped, and Harry would be forever grateful. He looked forward to when his friends would pop in to see if he was alright as it really made a change from the life he was so used to.

But two people Harry wasn't looking forward to seeing was Sirius and Remus. Remus, thankfully, didn't drop by. In fact, he hadn't said a single word to Harry since he'd arrived. Even though this took a huge weight off Harry's shoulders, it did tend to hurt. Harry knew he would have to strike up the courage to talk to that man soon, but he knew he couldn't now. The healer had said not to get stressed out after all and Harry had some serious thinking to do about Remus.

And Sirius.

Sirius was much harder to avoid as Sirius plainly didn't want to avoid Harry like Remus did. He had managed to get out of conversations with his godfather so far, but today had been proving difficult as Sirius has been turning up just about everywhere, and this evening was no different.

Harry was lying on his bed, one hand protectively on his stomach, the other holding a book. Harry had decided that he would feel much better and prepared for the birth and all that followed if he was to read up on it. Hermione had been kind enough to nip down to Diagon Ally and purchase it for him, along with some sweets and pastries she knew Harry liked.

As Harry turned the page there was a knock at his door. Eyes still fixed on the book, Harry called the person in, thinking that it would probably be another Order member coming to check on him.

"Hey," said a quiet voice and Harry looked around the book to see Sirius standing in the doorway. His heart skipped a beat.

"Hi," he said, gripping the book. He didn't know what else to say. Sirius was dressed in his normal black robes which he had left open to reveal jeans and shirt. The dark around Sirius's chin told Harry that he hadn't shaved for quite some time and his eyes were slightly red.

"I thought I'd come and see how you're doing," he said, closing the door.

"I'm ok," said Harry. "A little tired though."

"Understandable," he replied from the door. "You're carrying triplets."

There was an awkward silence. Harry picked at the corner of his book whilst looking everywhere but at his Godfather.

"We need to talk Harry," Sirius said slowly.

"Can't we talk tomorrow? I'm really tired and I…"

"No Harry," he said over him, taking a step towards the bed. "We need to talk now. You've been avoiding me."

"No I haven't," lied Harry. "I just kept missing you is all."

"That's bullshit Harry and you know it."

"Don't talk to me like that," Harry snapped, feeling his angry start to bubble.

"You never listen! You always leave the room when I enter it, how else am I supposed to get you to listen to me?" he shouted.

"I don't want to listen Sirius," he shouted, "I know what you're going to say and I don't want to hear it."

"You're pregnant Harry, what else…"

But he was cut off by another knock on the door.

"Tell them to go away," Sirius said, eyes fixed on Harry. "We need to finish this."

"Come in," Harry called, ignoring Sirius, who glared at him.

"Hi," smiled Hermione, coming through the door. "Just thought we'd come and see how you were getting on."

"We can go if you like," said Ron, gesturing to Sirius.

"Oh no," said Harry, jumping at the opportunity. "Sirius was just going."

With a last look, Sirius stalked out the room. Ron looked after him in puzzlement.

"What's gotten up his arse?" he said, looking back at Harry, but Harry couldn't answer. He had tears tumbling down his cheeks. So much for no stress.

"Oh Harry, what's wrong?" asked Hermione, bewildered. She rushed over to his bed and pulled him into a hug. Harry couldn't help feeling slightly embarrassed; how many more times was he going to cry like this?

"I hate my life," he cried. "I hate it! Why does shit always happen to me?"

"Don't say that," she said. "We're here for you, don't worry."

Frustrated, Harry pulled out of the hug and jumped off the bed. They all said they were there for him but it wouldn't stop the pain he felt; nothing would.

"What is it mate?" asked Ron. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Harry snapped. "Everything! I'm so confused, I don't know what I want anymore! I'm not even 17 yet and I'm pregnant with bloody triplets! I'm going to be a single parent 'cause I can almost guarantee that the other father doesn't want me! That's if I can figure out who the hell he is first! And to top it all off, I have a crazy murdering lunatic after me and a bloody prophecy to fulfil!"

Both of them just stared at him with shocked looks on their faces, and Harry felt horrible once more.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, wiping his tears away. "I shouldn't have shouted. It just, everything has gone wrong and I don't think I can handle all this much longer."

"It's fine Harry," said Ron. "You don't have to apologise. We understand."

"We can see how much this is hurting you," Hermione said softly. "I wish there was more I could do."

Harry sat down on the bed again and put his head in his hands. His mind was so full of questions, hopes, fears. Why has he let this happen? Would the father help him? Would they all hate him? Harry was also having trouble deciding what his feelings were towards certain possible fathers. He knew, absolutely knew, that he hated one of them and if that person turned out to be the father then he didn't know what he would do. He also knew he had strong feelings, strong positive feelings, towards one of them, but he didn't know where to begin with that person.

"I need to talk to you guys," said Harry, head still buried. "I can't keep this to myself anymore otherwise I'll go insane."

The other two nodded somewhat eagerly.

"But you can't tell anyone," he warned them, looking up. "And you can't judge me on this."

"We promise Harry," said Hermione.

"Right," he started, and he took a deep breath. "You already know that there are four possible fathers, and that they were all close together. Since it was all in the paper, I'm pretty sure they are all aware of my…situation…and they all properly think that they're the father."

Harry stopped to think about this for a moment. He hadn't thought of that. They all think that they are the father. Here's Harry, stressing out over the fact that he doesn't know who the father is, when they are all probably having the worst summer ever because they found out about all of this through the bloody paper!

"I feel awful," Harry whispered to himself. "They're all probably really worried about this, hating me because I didn't tell them directly."

"It's not your fault Harry," said Hermione. "You're been through a lot and I know this isn't easy for you. They'll understand."

Harry nodded slowly to himself, not really listening to what Hermione had said. Then, trying to clear that thought from his mind, he took another deep breath. There was no point in beating about the bush, he might as well just tell them. He looked away and screwed his eyes tight shut.

"Sirius could be the father. I slept with him."

He could almost feel the silence that filled the room.

**FLASHBACK**

"Sirius? You here?" Harry called out into the quiet house.

He had just arrived at Grimmauld Place via floo, after having had a harder day than usual.

His day had started out fine; he had woken up to the first clear sky they had had in weeks after having such a dull and stormy Christmas and New Year; February was almost upon them and he was looking forward to the Gryffindor Vs Slytherin match. He had skipped down to breakfast in high spirits and had joyfully joined the others on the way to Transfiguration. Then he had received his results on the last test they had done in class.

He had felt so sure that he had managed a decent grade but Advanced Transfiguration was suddenly a lot harder than it used to be. Then he had had Charms and, his mind still lingering on the dismal grade he had just received in his last class, had failed to pay attention to what little Professor Flitwick was saying and had ended up setting half the classroom on fire.

Dinner time brought unpleasant news; Ron and Hermione were back together. Now, he _knew_ he shouldn't be feeling jealous towards them and should be happy that they were happy again, but the fact that his two best friends were 'madly in love' with each other only served to remind him that he, Harry, was still single.

Then came Potions. Oh, how he hated Potions. Snape had been in a particaully menacing mood and felt that he needed to take his bad feelings all out on Harry; the jeering remarks, the snidey comments, you name it. Harry had gotten so wound up that he had yelled at Snape and had told him 'where to stick it' resulting in one weeks detention and 50 points from Gryffindor. Annoyed, Harry had blown up his cauldron; (on purpose or not, Harry still wasn't sure.)

Not willing to take anymore, Harry had returned to the common room, thankful that he had no more lessons today. He had only just thrown himself into the cosy armchair by the fire and was beginning to relax when Mcgonagall had come in. Dumbledore wanted to see him due to Harry's 'lack of control on his temper'. Harry had stormed into the old mans office, flung himself into a chair, and had managed to shatter several glass bottles accidentally by generating too much power.

The events of the day had led to Harry flooing himself home to Sirius as he couldn't stand to be around anyone else at that moment.

"Sirius?" Harry called again, feeling himself growing angry that his own Godfather, the man who said he'd _always_ be here if Harry ever wanted to talk, wasn't here. Then he mentally kicked himself for being angry at the man when he heard his steps approaching the front room.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, coming into the room. "Is something wrong?"

Smiling at Sirius' concern, Harry sat down on the sofa behind him.

"Everything's fine," he sighed. "I just had a bad day is all, so I came to see how you were doing."

Sirius frowned. "I'm fine Harry," he said. "But I am worried about you. This isn't the first time you've stormed away from school due to a bad day."

"I know," sighed Harry. "But it was a _really_ bad day. If I had stayed at Hogwarts any longer, I have a horrible feeling I would have exploded myself and everything else around me. I figured you wouldn't be best pleased if Hogwarts sent you a bill for all the damage I had caused in said explosion."

"Fair enough," smiled Sirius. "You want to talk about it?"

"Nah," smiled Harry, cuddling up to Sirius, "I just want a cuddle from my favourite Godfather."

"Your _only_ Godfather," he said, "I should hope I'm your favourite."

Harry laughed softly and snuggled deeper into Sirius's shoulder, glad when the man wrapped an arm around him.

"You going to tell me what happened to make today such a bad one?" Sirius eventually asked after having sat there for a few moments in silence, welcoming the comfort.

"Just stuff," muttered Harry. "I got a crap mark in Transfiguration, set the classroom on fire in Charms, had to watch Ron and Hermione being all cute together, and then I had to suffer Snape. To top it all off, Dumbledore thinks I need some sort of anger management class because I yelled at Snape and let my magic get out of control."

When Sirius laughed at that, Harry couldn't help but smile.

"Well I can see you at least had a productive day," he smiled.

"Stressful more like," said Harry, then sighed again. "At least it's over now."

"Yeah…" There was another moment of silence. Soon, Sirius spoke up again.

"So, Ron and Hermione are back together?"

"Yep," he said without any enthusiasm. "Don't get me wrong, I _am_ happy for them," he said, "It's just, well, they're my best friends and they're together, you know? I wouldn't mind that much if they were both going out with someone else…and seeing them together…" He broke off seeing Sirius looking down at him knowingly.

"I know what you mean," he told Harry. "There was a time in seventh year when I felt pretty much left out. James had Lily, Peter had some weird girl from Hufflepuff, me and Remus had just broken up and…"

"You and Remus?" Harry cut across. "Really?"

Harry had known for a while that Sirius was bi. Remus had told him loads of funny stories from his school days about all the messes Sirius used to get himself into. But he had never mentioned that he himself had been involved.

Harry had also asked Sirius about being bisexual. Sirius had said that he 'preferred gay sex but would rather be in a relationship with a chick'.

"Yeah," said Sirius with a small smile. "I mean, it's not what you think. We weren't that much in love with each other or anything. But it did hurt when we broke up."

"And now?"

"Now me and Moony are just good friends, which is exactly how I want things to stay. I don't want any more from him or any less. He's my best friend."

Harry relaxed into Sirius's embrace before speaking again.

"Did you sleep with him? If you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't mind," he said. "Yeah, I did. We were together for just over a year."

Another silence followed yet again. Harry lay back, thinking all this through. Remus and Sirius. Sirius and Remus. He had always pictured Remus has, well, the smart one; the wise one. The one who would wait for the perfect guy, the one who would be loving and caring; the romantic one. Finding out that he had slept with Sirius, Harry supposed that he couldn't be all that romantic and gentle – Sirius still had a reputation for the being the wild, savage one in bed.

"I'm not all that savage you know," said Sirius with a chuckle. Harry looked up with questioning eyes.

"When people find out about Remus and I they tend to wonder about what Remus is really like in bed," he laughed softly, "and then compare him to me and my reputation."

Harry smiled sheepishly.

"Remus can be just as wild and kinky as I can," he said.

"And you?" asked Harry, sitting up to face Sirius.

"And I can be just as charming and romantic as Remus," he whispered.

He lifted a hand and slowly reached out towards Harry, who allowed him to brush his hand softly against his cheek. Harry closed his eyes and leant in to the touch.

The soft caresses disappeared and Harry opened his eyes only to meet Sirius's, full of lust and desire. Harry swallowed.

"Sirius…" But his words were lost. He found he could no longer summon his voice; his mind was racing and he couldn't find one coherent thought. His heart was pounding against his chest, and in the silence that engulfed them both, he was sure it's drum beat could be heard.

But if it could, Sirius paid no attention to it. He was moving in closer to Harry, who was subconsciously moving towards Sirius. All of a sudden, Harry found he didn't care what was going on, he just knew that he was looking into eyes that reflected the same desire as he felt flooding through his own body.

Their lips touched, and at first it was soft and slow, savouring the moment and the taste. But Harry's mind was blank; he couldn't think. All he knew was that he was being kissed and he liked it. But by the time his mind had begun to register exactly what was happening and who with, the kiss had already turned into something hot and passionate and hungry, and Harry was returning it with just as much enthusiasm. But when Sirius's hands moved down to his robes, Harry found his voice and tried to pull away.

"Sirius, no," he whispered, "no, we can't…please." He wasn't sure if he meant please _yes_ or please _no_, it was that good. He leant back in and covered Sirius face with heated kisses.

"You're right, we shouldn't do this," said Sirius, although his hands were working furiously at trying to undo Harry's robes.

"I know," breathed Harry between kisses. "It's wrong."

"We could get into a lot of trouble," he muttered as he pushed the robes off Harry's shoulders and discarded them.

"I know," Harry breathed again, allowing Sirius to attach himself to Harry's neck. "This is just so…oh that's good…wrong."

"You taste so good," Sirius whispered, licking and kissing his way along Harry's collarbone and down his muscled chest.

As Sirius reached Harry's trousers, his reason left him. He wanted it and Sirius wanted it and it felt good. That was all he needed to know.

**END FLASHBACK**

"…and one thing led to another and before I could do anything we were...you know," finished Harry. He risked a look at his two friends who were both sat on the bed staring at him. He looked away.

"He…he didn't force you did he?" Hermione finally asked timidly.

"No!" said Harry, feeling slightly offended. "Do you really think I would let someone force me into that sort of thing?"

There was a silence. Harry put his head in his hands as he sat down, resting his elbows on his knees. The things that had been said and done that night were flooding through his mind and he couldn't escape them. He sighed and looked up again.

"Are you guys ok with this?" he asked them, not comfortable with their silence.

"It just…needs to sink in," said Ron slowly. "I mean, you slept with your godfather Harry."

"I know," he said, "but I told you what happened. I'd had a bad day, I just wanted some comfort."

"But with Sirius?"

"Ron," Harry warned, "you promised you wouldn't judge me."

"We're not Harry," said Hermione, "we're just…shocked. I just wish you would have talked to us rather than, well, do what you did."

"I know," said Harry, "but it's done now. There's nothing to be done about it."

Another silence, and then "Was he your first time Harry?" It was Ron asking. Without looking at them, Harry answered "yes."

Trying to avoid the awkward moment, Harry sighed again and stood up.

"I need to carry on," he told them.

"Can't you just give us a minute to let this sink in," asked Hermione. "Can't we talk about it before you carry on?"

"No," said Harry. Reluctant as he had been to tell them this story, he found that he didn't want to stop, not now that he had started. "I need to get all this of off my chest first."

"Ok," she nodded, "If it's what you want."

Harry didn't want to think about what he wanted right now. He just needed to tell them everything before he lost his nerve.

"As you know, Snape gave me a week's detention," Harry continued, resuming his pacing. "It was two days after the…incident…with Sirius. It was a Saturday. I remember that because everyone had gone into Hogsmeade and I had to stay to do detention. This time, it was Remus who was a comfort to me."

* * *

Hope you all liked it! I'm going to have flashbacks in the next few chaptes because it's alot easier to explain things that way. 

I'm glad you liked the triplets. I was going to have twins but decided on triplets because I haven't read alot with triplets recently.

**Important:** I am hoping that I'll have one or two more updates before the almighty July 16th comes. If I don't, then I'll probably post towards the end of July. I'm sure all of us are going to want to read and reread book 6 and hardly anyone will be on the internet when that time comes. Plus, I'm swamped with summer homework alreadt. But don't worry, I won't leave this fic. And if Remus or Dumbledore or a main Weasley die then they'll still be alive here, just like Sirius. And it will probably take a while to everyone to get back into the mood for fanfics once the book is out anyway. **21 DAYS TO GO!**

Please review!


	6. Remus

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N: **Lots and Lots of thank you's to all those who reviewed! I'm glad you liked it.

Chapter 6: Remus

"_As you know, Snape gave me a week's detention," Harry continued, resuming his pacing. "It was two days after the…incident…with Sirius. It was a Saturday. I remember that because everyone had gone into Hogsmeade and I had to stay to do detention. This time, it was Remus who was a comfort to me."_

FLASHBACK

Harry stormed down the long corridor muttering incoherently to himself. He threw the password at the fat lady and flung himself into the armchair by the fire, letting his bag drop to the floor, some of its contents spilling out.

Snape was such a prick. Not only was he a prick, he was a git; a greasy git. An annoying greasy git who was a total prick. An annoying greasy-haired git who was a total prick with a big nose.

Harry sighed. Name calling was _not_ helping – if you could call that pathetic attempt to insult Snape behind his back name calling.

But just who did he think he was? Harry had actually _apologised_ to_ Snape_ about yelling at him and blowing up his cauldron. But did that make any difference? Did it fuck! He still had to do a weeks detention with the man. And it had only been two days! He still had another five to go! Why couldn't Voldemort just realise Snape was the spy and go and kill him? Do the school an actual favour for a change?

Harry sighed again. Ok, so Harry didn't really want the man dead. But he _did_ want _something_ to be done about it. Maybe he should just go to Dumbledore and complain? _Excuse me Professor Dumbledore, but Snape is treating me badly and since I'm Harry Potter I should get my own way… _Maybe not.

Harry looked around the empty common room. He could really use Ron and Hermione right now. He really needed to vent some of his anger and a good way to do that was to have a good bitch about Snape. Besides, if he didn't learn to 'vent his anger' and 'turn it into something productive' then he had a horrible feeling he would blow something up again and then Dumbledore really _would_ consider sending him to anger management classes. Imagine! The boy-who-lived attending anger management! Then Voldemort would find out, make Harry angry causing Harry to lose control and blow himself up, leaving Voldemort to rule the world! All because Harry had a temper problem!

Ok, so that was a bit far-fetched. But it could happen.

Maybe he should try meditation? He could just hear a voice like Trelawney's in his head…_channel your anger, release it into the atmosphere…_Ok, so meditation was a stupid idea. But he needed something.

A tap on the window interrupted his thoughts and he looked up to see a brown owl sitting on the window sill outside. Sighing yet again, Harry got up and crossed the room. He opened the window and the owl stuck its leg out. Who would be writing to him?

He took the letter and thanked the owl before he flew off again. Sitting back down into the comfy armchair, Harry tore open the letter slowly, his apprehension building for some reason. He was so used to Hedwig bringing him letters he felt that this one may hold bad news.

He pulled out the parchment and unfolded it, slightly surprised when he saw that it was Sirius' handwriting. Then a dead weight dropped in his stomach. _Sirius._

He looked nervously down at the letter. He hadn't thought about that night since, well, that night.

_Dear Harry,_

_You know I'm hopeless at words, especially when writing them down, so if this comes out sounding all wrong then please forgive me. I don't really know how I'm going to put this; I just woke up this morning and felt like I needed to explain myself to you._

_The other night was a mistake. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I hadn't slept with anyone in almost 16 years and you being there all cute and vulnerable…I don't even know what to say. I just can't put into words how very sorry I am. I abused my position as your Godfather. I took advantage of you and I feel so very ashamed of what I've done. It should never have happened. I completely understand if you're not willing to forgive me. You're a 16 year old boy, you're Harry Potter. You shouldn't have to be worrying about the consequences of sleeping with your Godfather. No one should. When I think about what happened…me sleeping with my _best friend's son_…it's just so wrong. I can't apologise enough for this error. I'm disgusted with myself._

_Your first time shouldn't have been a mistake and it certainly shouldn't have been with me. It should have been with someone you loved and it should have been full of meaning and passion, not urgency and need. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, only hoping that in time you will be able to. You're my Godson Harry and I love you, and that love is strictly platonic and should have stayed that way._

_I have to go now. The Order is here for a meeting. Whatever you decide to do about this mess I have landed us both in I will understand. I would go back to Azkaban for my mistake if it made you feel better. I really am very sorry._

_Hope you're well and that Snape isn't treating you too badly._

_Sirius_

Harry stared at the letter in front of him. The truth was, he didn't know what to make of it.

Yeah, it was true that Harry didn't feel anything for Sirius that wasn't platonic. Yeah, he understood that sleeping with him had been wrong. But a mistake? Harry wouldn't call it a mistake.

He knew he shouldn't have slept with Sirius, but he also knew that he had needed it. Harry had hoped that Sirius would just ignore what had happened between them, just forget about it. Pretend it never happened. If Sirius hadn't slept with anyone in 16 years then he was pretty sure that they had both needed it. He didn't regret it completely. It had been an experience. He had gotten closer to his Godfather. True, it was perhaps a little bit _too_ close but he had hoped they could just ignore that fact. That they could go about their lives as normal after sharing such an intimate experience.

But to address the matter and call it a total mistake? A mess? Sirius really sounded like he meant it when he said it was a mistake; he sounded disgusted by the whole thing. Had Harry been that bad? And Azkaban? If he was willing to go back there then there was no question about how Sirius really felt.

_You know I'm hopeless at words, especially when writing them down…_No Sirius, you got your meaning across crystal clear.

So I'm a mistake, Harry thought bitterly. He regrets ever even touching me!

Not even thinking about what he was doing, Harry got up and headed out of the common room. He needed a good rant. He needed someone to tell him things would be ok.

By the time Harry had reached the third floor his anger seemed to be ebbing away. He stopped and looked down at the letter in his hand. Why was he even angry? It wasn't like he wanted to be with Sirius or anything. He just…didn't want the whole incident to be considered a _mistake_. Not when it had been his first time. He had hoped that they could both accept it and move on. It could be there little secret, something they shared, an understanding, anything as long as it wasn't considered a _mistake_. He had been called a mistake hundreds of times by the Dursley's and to hear it from Sirius (well, Sirius' letter) was just…hurtful. Even though it shouldn't have happened, it wasn't a mistake. That's how Harry saw it.

"Harry? Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?"

Harry spun around, hastily shoving the letter into his robe pocket. Lupin was walking towards him in his usual tattered robes. Sirius had offered countless times to buy him new ones but he always refused. Sirius hated the pride in Lupin, but Harry had always admired that independence. Working at Hogwarts again had done the man wonders and he was looking better than he had a year ago back at Grimmauld Place.

"I had detention with Snape," Harry told him, "I've got it all week."

Lupin smiled sympathetically. "Where you off to now?"

"You know," said Harry, "I really haven't the faintest clue."

"Come on," he smiled, "you can come with me to my office, keep me company."

"Thanks Professor," Harry smiled and he followed Lupin down the quiet corridor towards his rooms. He entered the familiar office, happy to see that once again it was full of books and small caged creatures that they would undoubtedly be studying soon in class.

Lupin opened another door behind his desk and signalled for Harry to enter and sit down. He did whilst looking around. They were in a small living room. One large purple sofa sat opposite the fire which was surrounded by all sorts of strange artefacts. The walls were lined with framed photographs and cabinets and shelves that held even more books than were in the office. In this room were two more doors which Harry guessed led to a bathroom and a bedroom.

Lupin came back over to him and sat down besides him.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?" he asked politely, looking at Harry.

"How did you know something was wrong?"

"James used to have that same look when he was worried or annoyed about something," he smiled.

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I'll be alright," he said. "Something just came up and it annoyed me but I can deal with it."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Lupin asked.

"I'm sure," said Harry, and it was true. That, and he _couldn't_ talk about it. "It's mainly Snape that I'm pissed off at."

"Ah, that man pisses everyone off," said Lupin with a shake of his head. "He's such a sadist."

Harry laughed. "You think he gets off on other peoples pain?"

"I wouldn't put it passed him," he laughed. "Snapes' an evil one alright. Just don't let him get to you; you're stronger than that."

"Thanks Professor," Harry smiled, "and yeah, I suppose you're right. I really shouldn't let him get to me. It's just, he puts me down at every opportunity he has. Even if it's in front of other teachers. I let it get to me, ended up yelling at him, and earned myself yet another detention."

"And from what I heard you blew up your cauldron as well?" Lupin asked with a humorous glint in his eye.

"Dumbledore thinks I need anger management," he said, "other wise I might end up blowing up the whole the castle."

"Well we can't have that," said Lupin, "I like this job."

Harry smiled.

"Maybe you should try meditation," Lupin suggested and Harry looked back at him.

"Are you serious?" he asked, unbelievingly.

"Yeah," said Lupin. "I know a lot of people say it's a load of bullshit but it works, helps you to relax."

"Seriously?" said Harry again. "You want_ me_ to meditate?"

"Yeah," smiled Lupin. "Come on, I'll show you."

"Seriously?" asked Harry yet again, watching as his Professor pushed the coffee table out of the way to make room.

"Yes," laughed Lupin, sitting down on the floor. "Come on."

Amused, Harry slid of the sofa and sat down opposite Lupin.

"Now," he said, "you can do this two ways. The first is to kneel slightly, like this," Lupin knelt and tucked his legs underneath him, "or like this," he changed his position and sat with his legs crossed. "Or if you're flexible you can do this," legs still crossed, he rested his feet on thighs.

"Seriously?" asked Harry again, trying not to laugh.

"Yes!" laughed Lupin. "Now come on, pick your position." Harry did laugh at that.

"Dirty minded child," muttered Lupin.

"I'm a 16 year old, what do you expect?" he laughed.

Once he was sat with his legs crossed he looked at Lupin who had just lit many scented candles about the room with his wand. He drew the curtains and put out the main candles in the chandelier so that they were left in semi darkness. The scented candles were casting shadows across the room and Harry had to admit that it was indeed calming.

"Now, clear your mind," Lupin said softly as he closed his eyes, "let all that negative feeling go."

Harry closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind of all thought. The scented candles were sending such a sweet, exotic aroma around the room and the heat from the many candles was quite pleasant. Harry found that all of his bad feelings from earlier on were gone. It was hard to feel negative about anything when he was sitting in such a calming environment. Was it the atmosphere or the actual meditation that was calming him?

"Let go of your anger," Lupins voice whispered, "nothing can harm you here. This is your space, your time, and you are in control."

Harry opened his eyes. Lupin still had his closed and was looking very relaxed, and Harry couldn't help but smile as he regarded his Professor.

The candle light danced over his Professor making him look enchanted, highlighting his features most magnificently. The light played with his soft grey/brown hair making it look golden, and his face was glowing. The surrounding dark was inviting, the aroma that washed over him - enticing. It was such a romantic setting. All that was missing was soft music playing in the background.

Before he knew what he was doing, Harry was leaning in towards his Professor and before he could stop himself, had placed a gentle kiss to his lips.

Lupin's eyes fluttered open and stared at Harry with shock and wonderment.

"What are you doing?" he asked, and Harry noted that he didn't sound angry at all, merely confused.

"You're beautiful," Harry whispered in replay and he leant in for another kiss, lingering a bit longer than he had intended, if he had intended at all.

"I'm your teacher," was all Lupin could utter.

"Then teach me," Harry whispered back. "Make love to me."

END FLASHBACK

"…and he really did make love to me. He was so gentle and caring, yet so passionate. It was deep and it was meaningful and it was powerful. We made_ love_."

"And Sirius?" asked Hermione slowly, "what had that been?"

Harry considered for a while. "Hungry," he finally answered, "hungry and urgent and rough."

"I can't believe this," said Ron, shaking his head. "In just three days you slept with the two most inappropriate people you could sleep with! What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't thinking! Not with Sirius anyway. I realise now that, yes, it was a mistake. It was sex that shouldn't have happened, I know that now."

"And Remus?" demanded Ron.

"Remus," said Harry, "I don't regret. It was the most wonderful experience I have ever had."

"So," said Hermione, more to herself than anything. "You had a bad day, you slept with Sirius, which you admit was a mistake, although you were angry about Sirius saying that back then?"

"Right," said Harry.

"And then two days later, you had another bad day, met up with Remus, relaxed, and then _you_ made a move on _him_?"

"Right," said Harry again.

"And you don't regret it?"

"No," answered Harry.

"Have you talked to Remus since?" asked Ron.

"Not really," said Harry. "We've sort of…avoided each other."

"Well, if you feel so strongly about him then shouldn't you tell him?" asked Hermione. "He has the right to know."

"Hermione…"

"And since he didn't object to you coming on to him then maybe he feels the same way."

"I don't think he does Hermione," said Harry.

"Why not?"

"Just…because, ok? Stuff like that never happens. There're only happy endings in books and films, never in real life."

"Oh, Harry, stop being so pessimistic," she said.

"I'm not, I'm just telling you how it is," he argued back.

"Look," said Ron. "Even though I'm probably not going to like what Harry has to tell us next, can we please get on with this?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, I better get this all over with before I lose my nerve."

"Fine," said Hermione, "but we are talking about this Remus issue later."

"Ok," said Harry, and he resumed his pacing once more. "Yet again, only a couple more days passed. I still had detention with Snape and he was treating me like a piece of shit. I was so annoyed with Snape that my grades in other classes started to fall. You guys, no offence, were all loved up with each other and it was driving me crazy. Anyway, we'd just finished Quidditch practice and I stayed back to sort the game plan out when Draco Malfoy walked into the changing rooms."

"Oh Harry you didn't!" gasped Hermione.

"I did."

* * *

I swear these chapters keep getting longer and longer. lol. Maybe this one was a little shorter than the last, but still! 

**kelz:** Nope, the triplets have the same father. Who the father actually is, I still haven't decided. I know what the ending pair is, but not who the father is. lol, I'm so unorganised.

**the-mpreg-spirit**: Awwww, I'm sorry sweetie. I know you love SBHP. lol, if it helps, Sirius could be the father since I haven't decided on one yet. lol. But it will end up with Harry and Remus.

**Taikai no za Kokoro: **Yay! 12 DAYS! 12 DAYS! 12 DAYS!

So, this was probably the last update before book 6 comes out. Sorry, but you'll have to wait until after the book for more updates. -gets on knees and begs- please don't leave me!

:-) Please Review.


	7. Draco

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**SPOILER/WARNING/IMPORTANT: **OMG! You guys read the book? OMG! I'm still getting over it! This is to just warn you/inform you (depending on if you have read the book) that I'm going to be trying to _put pieces of book 6 into this fic_. Obviously, the person who died in the book ISN'T dead in here, and the person who killed him...well, didn't. And Remus ISN'T going out with the person who he started to with in the book...and the student Death Eater ISN'T one in here...well, not yet anyway. The new teacher in book 6 ISN'T going to be in here. _You will notice bigger things from book 6 as the fic progresses_, like the Horcruxes, which I will bring into this eventually. Also, the whole thing with Snape...obviously, like I said, he didn't do what he did in the book...but I have an idea I may use (only small) _but I need to have confirmation that you guys have all read the book before I write that in_, so please tell me in your lovely reviews.

* * *

Chapter 7: Draco

"_Ok," said Harry, and he resumed his pacing once more. "Yet again, only a couple more days passed. I still had detention with Snape and he was treating me like a piece of shit. I was so annoyed with Snape that my grades in other classes started to fall. You guys, no offence, were all loved up with each other and it was driving me crazy. Anyway, we'd just finished Quidditch practice and I stayed back to sort the game plan out when Draco Malfoy walked into the changing rooms."_

"_Oh Harry you didn't!" gasped Hermione._

"_I did."_

**FLASHBACK**

Practice had gone well. Harry, as he was the team captain, had had them trying out all of their new moves and they had been throwing and catching, chasing and dodging the Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch for the passed 3 hours in order to better their performances. The Gryffindor Vs Slytherin match was almost upon on them and emotions within the two houses were running high. Gryffindor were the current cup holders, thanks to the excellent performances from Ginny and Ron the previous year.

Ron was still keeper and, thankfully, was a lot better than he had been when he had first joined last year. The new Beaters were Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote. Katie, Ginny, and the other new Chaser, Demelza Robins, were perfect. They had already pleased Harry by winning the first match of the season and Harry hoped for an even better performance this time.

The others had headed back up to the castle, but Harry had stayed behind, needing to sort the game plan out.

He tapped his wand on the board and watched as his drawings came to life. The drawing of Ginny passed the Quaffle to Katie who was flying just below her, who threw it back up to Demelza, who scored. Smiling to himself, he pushed the board to the side and headed for the showers.

He pulled off his muddy Quidditch robes and threw them on the pile on the floor as he kicked off his boots. With another flick of his wand he turned on the shower and finished getting undressed before stepping under the hot jet of water.

He still had his homework to do and another detention to serve with Snape. Thankfully, it was his last one, but Harry was sure that he had spent way too much time around the Potions Master to last him a life time. If he never saw the man again it would be too soon.

He sighed as he reached for the shampoo. Not even the pleasant jet of warm water could sooth his nerves; he had way too much to worry about. His grades were falling, he was loosing out on his sleep, and he had to spend another dreadful evening cleaning the dungeons.

Maybe he should try meditation again? He smiled at the thought. He still couldn't believe that had happened.

He ducked his head back under the shower and rinsed away the shampoo, feeling it cascade down his body. Yup, he decided, a little relaxation was just what he needed. He couldn't seem to go one day without getting wound up about something or other.

"My, my, what a pretty sight," came a voice and Harry hastened to grab a towel and wrap it around his waist.

It was Malfoy. He stood, arms folded, leaning against the lockers, his eyes fixed on Harry, a smirk playing on his pointed face.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry asked, shutting off the shower.

"Nothing much," he drawled. "I just felt like I should come down here and wish you good luck in the match tomorrow."

"How very nice of you," spat Harry.

"Isn't it?" he smiled. "'Cause mark my words Potter, you're gonna need luck if you want to come even close to beating us."

"Is that so?" Harry glared at him.

"We have a much better line up this year Potter," he smirked. "There's no way you could even hope to win. That cup is ours."

"You keep telling yourself that," said Harry, stepping out of the shower. He looked at Malfoy who was still leaning on his locker.

"Are you gonna move?" he said.

"Why should I?" asked Malfoy with a smile.

"So I can get dressed, you idiot," said Harry acidly. Malfoy was really trying his patience.

"You seem really tense Potter," said Malfoy, a glint in his eye that Harry didn't like. "You need to loosen up."

"Fuck off Malfoy," he spat, "I'm not in the mood."

He stood still as Malfoy smirked at him and wandered over to the giant board that Harry had left out. Malfoy's eyes followed the players around the board and Harry felt his anger grow.

He picked his wand up from the bench behind him and cleared the board.

"Don't get any ideas Malfoy," he said, moving to open his locker.

"Why would I need to steal Gryffindor game plans?" he smiled.

Harry pulled his clothes out of his locker and dropped them on to the bench that now stood between himself and Malfoy.

"Why are you here?" Harry asked again.

"Do I need a reason?" asked Malfoy, a glint in his eye that Harry didn't like.

Harry ignored him and snatched up his shirt, turning his back on Malfoy. He was just about to throw it on when he felt fingers on his back. He jumped and turned around.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Harry spat, glaring at the boy in front of him.

"What do I think _I'm_ doing?" said Malfoy, "You're the one who sleeps with teachers."

Harry's heart stopped. He could feel the colour being drained from his face. He tried to keep his expression impassive but he knew from the gleeful look that Malfoy was giving him that his eyes were giving him away.

"It's against the rules who know," smiled Malfoy. "You'd be expelled and poor Lupin would loose his job."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Harry, but he could hear the slight shake in his own voice.

"Really?" said Malfoy. "So I didn't hear…noises…coming from his room?"

Harry stared.

"And I didn't see you come out looking…utterly fucked?"

"You're imagining things Malfoy," said Harry, "Professor Lupin was showing me something to…"

"I bet he was," Malfoy interrupted.

"Something to do with class," finished Harry, knowing it was a lost cause. "Why would I sleep with a teacher?" he added.

"I don't know. Why would I imagine things?"

There was a nasty silence. Harry continued to glare daggers at Malfoy, who still had that annoying glint in his cold eyes.

"I'm not going to tell anyone Potter, don't worry," he said in a bored voice, although he was still smiling at Harry.

"There's nothing to tell anyway," said Harry.

"Or rather, I'm not going to tell anyone," he said, ignoring Harry, "if you let me…fuck you." He smiled hungrily.

"What?" Harry was staring at him as if he couldn't believe his eyes. He was sure he had just heard wrong. It was impossible to think that he had heard correctly.

"You heard," said Malfoy, his eyes now looking Harry up and down; Harry's grip on the towel tightened.

"Do I look like some kind of whore to you?" Harry demanded, cringing inside as he thought of Sirius and Remus.

"Well," drawled Malfoy, "that's debatable. Just how many others have you been with?"

"I'm not going to lie down for you Malfoy," Harry said, his anger boiling.

"That's ok," he answered, "you can bend over."

"Get out!" Harry yelled. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! It was blackmail!

"Make me," snarled Malfoy.

Harry glared at him. How Malfoy even had the cheek to ask…! It was unthinkable! It was disgusting!

But even as these thoughts whirled around Harry's head, he couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that he had indeed thought about it at times. Yeah, he had never even wanted to act on it, and all these tainted thoughts were pushed right to the back of his head…but he needed a release. There was no denying that…

_You're just making excuses,_ Harry scolded himself. _You don't want to do this! _

_But it might be fun, _said another voice, _you might like it. And you could do with a good fuck right now…to make you feel better…_

_How could sleeping with Draco Malfoy make anyone feel any better?_

_Just give it a go…_

_No!_

_He'll tell everyone about you and Remus…_

_No one would believe him!_

_But it's a serious allegation. They'll take it seriously. And besides, you can't pretend you haven't thought about it…_

_But this is reality! _Harry reminded himself.

_Oh go on! Live a little! You're the 'Chosen One' after all; when does the Chosen One get to be a little rebellious?_

_A little? He's the enemy!_

_Go on Potter…just this once…_

Before Harry could think of a retort, before he could make his mind see sense, he had reached over and pulled Malfoy into a fierce kiss. It was hungry and uncomfortable and was filled with need. The next thing he knew, Malfoy had him pressed up against the lockers and Harry legs were fighting to wrap themselves around that thin waist. The friction was amazing as Malfoy pressed against Harry even more, and Harry couldn't stop a moan escaping his parted, busy lips. He leaned in to Malfoy's rough touch, his hands tangled in that smooth blonde hair, the towel now completely forgotten…

**END FLASHBACK**

"That was blackmail Harry!" gasped Hermione, "Why the hell did you let him do it!"

"Because I wanted to," said Harry. "I know it was possibly the worst thing I could have done, but at the time I really wanted it."

"But…Malfoy," said Ron quietly, "Of all the people to…? Why…him?"

"Because he was there and he was offering," muttered Harry.

"You should have told someone!" said Hermione. "You shouldn't have let him threaten you like that! Especially something that serious! You know, that could actually be considered rape!"

"I didn't say 'no' did I?" said Harry. "I didn't back out or try to get away! At the time, I wanted it. That's all there is to say."

"I can't believe you Harry," she said, shaking her head. "I just can't believe that you would _let_ Malfoy…let him…! It's wrong Harry!"

"Well he didn't tell anyone about Remus and I did he?" demanded Harry.

"So that's why you did it? You let him force you into submitting to him so he wouldn't tell…"

"Haven't you been listening Hermione? I. Wanted. It. Yes, I deeply regret it now, but I wasn't thinking about the future! I was in the moment and I wanted it! Deal with it!"

"But…"

"Hermione, drop it!"

Silence. Hermione continued to look at him disbelievingly, whilst Harry avoided her eyes. The memory of what had happened dropped into Harry like a stone dropped into a pond, sending ripples of shame throughout his body. Ron, however, seemed to be thinking of something to say to break the unpleasant silence.

"He said he heard you and Lupin?" he asked finally. "How did he manage that? You were in his rooms. To hear you he must have been in Lupin's office. What was he doing in there without permission?"

Harry shook his head. "I dunno. Maybe he needed to talk to him about class or something…and he entered when there was no answer. Does it really matter?"

He stood up and walked over to the large window. The street lamps had flickered into life, creating an eerie glow in the veil of mist that had settled outside. Harry sighed.

"I know I've done a lot of stupid things," he said, sitting down on the sofa across from his bed, "and I know a lot of those stupid things have been complete mistakes. I'm not perfect. I'm far from it in fact. But can't you just accept this and move on? I have."

Ron nodded, although it looked like as though it was against his better judgment, and Hermione followed suit.

"There's a war going on," said Harry, looking back at the mist outside in the street below, "and here we are, arguing about my stupid mistakes."

"You're right Harry," said Hermione with a sigh, although this time she seemed to mean it. "I'm sorry. I just couldn't believe you would…but it's in the past now right?"

She smiled and Harry gratefully returned the gesture.

"So," said Ron, "Sirius, Lupin, and Malfoy. You said there were four?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, there was. The last one didn't really come about as something as a shock. It was just…friends getting to friendly."

He turned away from the mist and stretched his legs out on the sofa, his hand resting on his large belly.

"It was a week later," Harry began, "and we'd just won the Gryffindor Vs Slytherin match. As you know, loads of Gryffindor's had managed to smuggle up quite a lot of drinks from the kitchen."

"With a little help from Dobby and Kreacher," muttered Hermione. Harry ignored her.

"We were all celebrating the win and having a good time," continued Harry. "Well, quite a few of us had a bit too much to drink, and we got carried away…"

"Understatement," declared Hermione, obviously remembering how Neville had tried to chat up the table.

"Anyway," said Harry, "Dean and I got a bit too friendly that night."

* * *

Please read the warning/important thing at the beginning if you have read book 6, and can you please tell me if you have read it? If not, don't worry, I won't place big spoilers in, but there are small things...like the members of the Quidditch team for instance.

Sorry that chapter was a bit short...still trying to get my head round book 6...there are SO many theories!


	8. Dean

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N:** I thought I would post this one because it's the last 'flashback' chapter and I wanted to get it out of the way. Thank you SO much for reviewing!

**Spoiler (ish): **I will not be changing the the storyline of the fic due to book 6, I'm just going to be adding little bits here and there - more like references. Hopefully they wont be HUGE spoilers, but the main spoilers will have a sort of _twist _to them so I can alter book 6 to fit this. lol

Chapter 8: Dean

"_It was a week later," Harry began, "and we'd just won the Gryffindor Vs Slytherin match. As you know, loads of Gryffindor's had managed to smuggle up quite a lot of drinks from the kitchen."_

"_With a little help from Dobby and Kreacher," muttered Hermione. Harry ignored her._

"_We were all celebrating the win and having a good time," continued Harry. "Well, quite a few of us had a bit too much to drink, and we got carried away…"_

"_Understatement," declared Hermione, obviously remembering how Neville had tried to chat up the table._

"_Anyway," said Harry, "Dean and I got a bit too friendly that night."_

**FLASHBACK**

"Drinks all around!" shouted Seamus cheerfully as Dobby and Kreacher disappeared with a crack, leaving one of the tables in the common room crammed with boxes full of drinks. There were red and gold balloons floating around the common room and above the stairs that led to the dormitory was a large banner with the words 'Go Gryffindor' written in shiny crimson letters.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," said Hermione over the noise of the crowd. "Half the students are too young to be drinking."

"Hermione!" Ron complained, helping himself to a drink from one of the boxes Katie had just opened, "It's a celebration!"

"Ron!" she warned.

"Ok, ok," he sighed. He crossed the room and climbed up on to the armchair by the fire. "Oi!" He yelled at the room, and everyone looked up from what they were doing, "As a prefect, I'm warning you that alcohol is only permitted to students of 16 and over!"

The older students smiled and went back to their drinks, but from the younger students however, there was a great deal of protest.

"That's not fair!" shouted Ginny, "We were on the Quidditch Team to! We earned the right for a drink!"

"Yeah!" shouted Jimmy Peakes, one of the beaters.

"Oh alright!" agreed Ron. "Alcohol to those of 15 and over."

"What about me?" shouted one of the chasers, Demelza Robins.

"Oh fine!" shouted Ron, "Alcohol is allowed to those of 14 and over. Everyone else has to stick to Butterbeer!"

There was another uproar from the younger students but Ron glared at them and they soon shut up. He walked back over to Harry and Hermione with a smug look on his face. Hermione, however, didn't seem at all pleased.

"14 is way too young to be drinking Ronald!" she snapped. "You're supposed to be a prefect! Good job at setting an example!"

"Oh, lighten up Hermione," he smiled, pulling a bottle of oak-matured mead out of one of the boxes and handing it to her, but Hermione glared at him.

"No thank you," she snapped, "I think I'll stick to Butterbeer. One of us has to be the responsible one. But don't come crying to me when you do something you'll regret!" And with that, she stormed away across the room.

Harry smiled to himself and took the bottle of mead out of Ron's hand. He knew they would be in a lot of trouble for stealing so many drinks from the kitchens, not to mention supplying alcohol to a lot of under-aged students. But hopefully, they wouldn't get found out.

Harry unscrewed the top of the bottle and took a large swig. They had earned a drink, he thought to himself. All the hard work had paid off. And besides, seeing the look on Malfoy's face when Harry had caught the Snitch…priceless! The match simply couldn't have gone any better.

As the evening went on and the supply of drinks went down, Harry joined in with the cheerful conversation. Seamus, who was getting drunker by the minute was convinced that what the party needed was some 'light entertainment' and had climbed up onto one of the tables and attempted to strip, which brought much laughter as he only managed to remove his robes before falling onto the floor.

Someone had turned on the WWN and music was blasting across the room. Everybody was dancing and singing and jumping about, all in high spirits. Harry had joined in the fun after his 5th bottle of…well, something…only dimly aware that the noise was sure to carry out of the common room.

Hermione, meanwhile, was glaring at them from over in her corner. Probably only one of the few still sober, as one of the younger students had charmed bottles of Vodka and Whiskey to look like Butterbeer, she tried to get the younger, unaffected students to bed.

Katie Bell and her friend Louise had started to sing a duet of _Chain Reaction_ and a seventh year boy had started up a conga line. Harry laughed as he watched Ron, Neville, and Seamus fall over their own feet, tumbling into everyone else in the line, knocking them all down.

"Here you go Harry," said a voice Harry knew and another bottle was pressed into his hand. He looked around and saw Dean standing next to him.

"Cheers," smiled Harry, taking a swig of the drink.

"It was a great match wasn't it?" slurred Dean, swaying slightly on his feet, bottle in hand, "Ginny looks _hot_ on a broom."

Harry laughed and took another gulp of his drink, watching Ginny who had just started up a game of Truth or Dare with her fellow 5th years.

"You look hot on a broom as well Harry," Dean continued, smiling at him. "Flying with that sexy look of determination on your face, grasping that stick between your legs."

Harry, who had just taken another drink from the bottle, spat it back out with a laugh. He turned to look at Dean and he swayed dangerously on the spot. He gripped the table for support.

"You're drunk," he laughed. "How many have you had?"

"Only a couple," Dean answered. He took another drink. "You wanna go do somethin' fun?"

"Lead the way," said Harry, and he staggered after Dean across the common room, grabbing another drink as he passed the table. They fell out of the portrait hole and landed on the floor in the corridor, Harry spilling his drink all over the other boy.

"I've got you all wet," he laughed, pulling himself up and offering his hand to Dean. They staggered down the empty corridor, singing along to the music that was still sounding from the common room, earning themselves disapproving glares from the portraits they passed.

They turned a corner and began to descend some stairs clumsily, when they heard hurried footsteps. Harry froze at the sound, unable to think what to do. Dean, who was still laughing, covered his mouth with his hand and looked up at Harry.

"This way, quick," said Harry, and he pulled Dean behind a tapestry which concealed a hidden passageway. He tumbled over Dean and crawled deeper into the passage just as the footsteps passed. By the sound of it, there was more than one person and Harry was sure they belonged to teachers. Evidently, the party back in the common room was about to be interrupted.

He looked back at Dean with an amused look. He had shed his robes and was now sitting against the wall, still suffering from a fit of silent giggles. Harry crawled over to him.

"You know," said Dean, still giggling, "You're really pretty."

"Why thank you, so are you," smiled Harry. He lifted the empty bottle to his lips intending to drink. Dean sniggered.

"We're gonna be here all night," he observed, "I can't remember the way to the common room."

Harry laughed, still holding the empty bottle. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable."

Dean smiled and leaned into Harry suddenly, his clumsy hands struggling with Harry's robe. Harry, who was far too intoxicated with drink to protest, ripped it off, and kissed Dean, tasting the Fire Whiskey on his lips. Dean returned the kiss sloppily and tumbled on top of Harry, who took one last attempt to extract some drink from the empty bottle, before pushing it aside…

**END FLASHBACK**

"…and I had such a hangover in the morning. It took me a while to realise what had happened."

"Well, you did kind of have half a box of booze Harry," said Ron, with a trace of amusement in his voice.

"I knew something stupid was going to happen with all that drink," said Hermione. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Oh come off it Hermione," said Ron, turning to look at her, "You're not seriously saying that you have never done something wrong?"

"Everybody makes mistakes Ron," she said, "It's just that alcohol usually makes it worst."

"Well," said Ron, clearly trying to think of something to say, "I thought you were being the responsible one? How come you let Harry go off with Dean?"

"Well I'm _so sorry_ I wasn't watching Harry's _every move_," she said sarcastically. "I promise I won't let him out of my sight next time his _best friend_ decides to get him drunk."

"Well I'm just saying that…"

"Will you guys drop it?" Harry interrupted. "Look. It's done, ok?"

"Sorry," muttered Hermione.

"So," said Ron. "Sirius, Remus, Malfoy, and Dean. Those are the four candidates?"

"Suppose," said Harry, swinging his legs of the sofa and sitting up to face them.

"So now all we have to do is figure out which one's the father," said Hermione.

"Couldn't you just get a paternity test done or something?" asked Ron.

"Well that's the most obvious thing to do," said Hermione, "But to do that he's going to need the DNA of the other's so it can be matched up. And in male pregnancies it can't be done until the babies are born so…"

"Good point," said Ron, and silence followed.

"Right," said Hermione finally, "We need a plan."

"A plan?" asked Harry, looking at her.

"He's having babies Hermione, not attempting a mass breakout," said Ron, but she ignored him.

"First of all," she continued, "Do they know you're pregnant?"

"Well, thanks to the _Prophet_, they will now," he said bitterly.

"Do they know about each other?" she asked.

"Well, Malfoy knows about Remus," he said, "But I think that's it. Sirius is going to be thinking the babies are his, and Remus and Dean are going to be thinking the same."

He looked up at Hermione again.

"If you're suggesting that I tell them about each other, then I can't," he told them. "What do you think Sirius and Remus would do to each other when they found out? What do you think they'll all think of me? Maybe Malfoy was right, maybe I _am_ a whore."

"Harry, don't say that about yourself," said Hermione.

"But it's true. Just look at this mess I've got myself in," he said miserably.

"Yes, it's a mess," she said, coming to sit next to him on the sofa, "But it's a mess that can be sorted out. It'll be ok; you'll see."

Harry sighed, unconvinced, but he didn't push the matter.

"So what do I do?" he asked.

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "You could tell them all that there was _one_ other, I suppose, rather than three others. It might help them relax a bit."

"Yeah," said Harry, "Yeah, I'll do that."

* * *

Yes! The last flashback! Whoo hoo! Now I can get on with the story! lol. 

**Shadow Vampiress:** 8 and a half hours? Seriously! I could _never_ read a book that fast. I got it at midnight (stayed up until 9am reading until I couldn't avoid sleep any longer) then read it all Sunday and finished at 2:30am Monday morning. So it took me 1 and a half days. But its worth the loss of sleep! lol

**lemylupin:** Don't worry - it will stay in the same universe; I'm just adding bits and bobs.

**Remusgrl01:** I don't believe those 'he isn't dead' thoeries. Everybody was like that with Sirius. But the Snape guitly or innocent thoeries...thats a different matter. I'm not sure which one I believe yet...Snapes such an interesting character. Arh! Inferi! Scared the hell out of me! lol. And yeah, I thought the Tonks thing was a bit surprising as well. Remus Lupin is GAY I tell you! lol

**Lord Localfreak:** I haven't made my mind up about Snape yet...thoeries are flying all over mugglenet about him.

**centaurius:** OMG I know! Hogwarts! I really cant wait until book 7 now! There's so many things that need answering.

**Black Feline:** lol, tell me about it.

**MasterLupin117:** Yup! hehe. I just had an urge to make him out like some sort of whore. lol. I get weird brainwaves like that.


	9. Gifts and Confessions

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N:** Thank you for reviewing! Love you all loads! Right, the chapters are goign to start getting longer again since I finally finished doing the flashbacks. This chapter isn't as long as I would have liked it to be and I haven't had time to re-read it and check it and stuff because I'm grounded so I'm not supposed to be on the Computer. Hehe.

Chapter 8: Gifts and Confessions 

With Harry's 17th Birthday, July finally turned into August and still Harry hadn't told the possible fathers that the babies might not be there's. Now six months pregnant, Harry was finding it harder to cope with the stress of it all and preferred not to think or talk about it.

Now 17, Harry was allowed to do magic outside of school which was a great advantage as he didn't have to relay on everybody else to do things for him.

His 17th birthday had been pretty busy as most of the Order was now staying at Grimmauld Place with them. Hagrid had stopped by for a visit and given him an assortment of sweets and chocolates, along with quite a large boulder that had Harry's name caved into it, from Gwap. Mrs Weasley had baked him an excellent birthday cake with extra strawberry's and cream, as this was what Harry was craving at the moment, and Fred and George had brought him some excellent pranks for when he had had the babies and would be free to run about the castle again. Ron had got him a light for his broom so he didn't have to hold his wand and fly at the same time when travelling at night, and Hermione had gotten him a book about famous Aurors, past and present. From Neville he had received a set of different quills, and Luna a small book on Wrackspurts, those invisible creatures that she had talked about the previous year; Harry had had to laugh when he had undone her present.

Dumbledore, to Harry's pure amazement, had sent him a Pensieve. It was roughly the same as Dumbledore's but had different markings around the edges and was, at that moment, empty. Harry had a feeling that it really would come in handy.

Sirius, although they still weren't speaking too each other, had sent him a number of magical gadgets, including a ring that vibrated and glowed red when danger was around, and a magical watch (much like the Weasley's clock) which could hold up to 10 names. So far, he had entered 'Ron', 'Hermione', 'Ginny', 'Neville', 'Luna', 'Sirius', 'Remus', 'Albus' ('Dumbledore' was too long), and 'Hagrid'. There was room for one more.

Remus had sent him a very pretty box made out of wood which had been carved into very detailed patterns. Inside, there were 2 compartments. In one, there were three glass vials each containing a potion; the clear one was Veritaserum, the gold one was Felix Felicis, and the other was one that Harry had never come across – it was a light purple colour and was called Siopius. It made the drinker move without making any sound. In the second compartment of the carved box was a note which said that this compartment was for storing dangerous or secret possessions; in other words, something the owner didn't want anybody to see; you simply had to shrink the object and store it away. The box, no matter what spells were preformed on it, could not be destroyed and could only be opened by its owner.

The amount of thought gone into the gifts from Sirius and Remus made Harry feel even more guilty, but he soon managed to forget his uneasy feelings when the partying had started.

That night had been a happy one. Tonks had decided that some sort of celebration was in order and she and Molly had dashed off to the kitchen to prepare snacks and drinks. Hermione had once again started fussing over Harry and the babies, making sure he was ok and assuring him that she would be there every step of the way. She was soon planning the babies' rooms and telling Harry all the things he would need, such as toys and teddies and cots and prams and bottles, etc… Ron said that he thought the babies' clothes should be colour co-ordinated so that he didn't mix them up; the boy in blue, one girl in pink, and the other in yellow. Or maybe he should have their names magically put on to the clothes. Soon, Tonks and Mrs Weasley had joined in, asking questions about the father and so on.

Harry had been thankful when Dumbledore pulled him away from the crowd and out into the hall.

Harry had expected the headmaster to say something to him about this all night. Ever since the old man had given him a questioning look at the hospital, Harry had known that Dumbledore wanted to ask him something and he thought he knew what about. But he wasn't worried. He was too happy to be worried.

"You don't know who the father is, do you Harry?" he asked kindly, to make sure Harry knew it wasn't an accusation of some sort.

"I knew you were going to ask me that sooner or later Professor," sighed Harry. He looked up at the Headmaster. "No," he told him, "I don't know. I mean, I know who it might be so it's not that bad. Hermione, Ron, and I are working on it though. We're sort of adding up the dates to see which one's most likely."

Which they were. Healer Neeson had said that the babies were due at the very end of October, which meant that conception had had to have happened at the end of January. But it was hard to work out since Sirius, Remus, and Draco had happened all in the same week…and 9 months could have meant so many weeks, and if that was the case then it might not mean the end of January…so they weren't really getting anywhere…The only thing they had found out was that it was less likely to be Dean because:

**A)** They had both been completely pissed out their heads and, according to Hermione, that was bound to affect the sperm,

**B)** Because Harry had slept with him a week into February, and

**C)** He was the last one, so chances are he was already pregnant by the time he slept with him.

One week into August, Harry had asked if he could take his apparation test, only to find out that expectant people weren't allowed to apparate because if they splinched themselves there could be serious effects, and Harry didn't like to try.

And he still hadn't told the fathers the babies might not be there's.

Now with one week to go until the return to Hogwarts, Harry was to be found curled up on the sofa in the living room, immersed in one of the pregnancy books Hermione had gotten him a few weeks ago. His booklist had come this morning (Hermione had been made Head Girl) and Mrs Weasley had kindly offered to do his shopping for him, bringing Ron, Hermione, and Ginny along with her so Harry could have peace and quiet.

There was a knock on the door and Harry looked up to see Remus standing in the doorway. Harry's heart quicken slightly.

"Sit down," said Harry, moving up to let Remus on the sofa. It had been a long time since they had spoken and Harry was in a good enough mood to allow it today.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, looking at Harry with concern. Harry shrugged.

"Ok, I guess," he said. "A little tired, but I can live with that."

"You're not having any problems are you? With the pregnancy I mean?"

"I wouldn't really call them problems," said Harry, "Although the backache I have been having is a nightmare. And I was having trouble sleeping as well, but the book said I should just exercise before bedtime so my body can relax into sleep later on."

"Did it work?" asked Remus, interested.

"Yup," smiled Harry. "This book is the pregnancy bible."

"You're not throwing up anymore are you?" he asked.

"No, thank Merlin," said Harry. "I've outgrown that now. According to the book there are 3 stages of pregnancy. I'm at the end the second stage now. Apparently, the second stage is supposed to be the most enjoyable but all I've had is backache and stretch marks. Although, when it's really quiet and I'm just relaxing, I swear I can feel them moving around in their slightly."

"Really?" he asked, intrigued.

"Huh uh," nodded Harry. "But I think they're asleep right now, they haven't moved in a while."

"Well, I'm glad you're ok," smiled Remus after a moment's silence. "I would have talked to you sooner but I was…afraid. Nervous. I dunno…" he trailed off.

"Look, Remus, there's something I have to tell you." Harry decided it was now or never. "I don't know how to say this but…erm…well, you see…you might not…"

Remus looked up at him and Harry fell silent. He didn't want to hurt Remus, he really didn't. True, Harry didn't know if the man would be relived that he might not be the father…he might be happy that there was another possible father…

But before Harry could decide how best to word this, Remus's lips were on his, soft and gentle, caressing his lips lovingly, and Harry kissed him back, enjoying the moment immensely.

It was over as suddenly as it had begun and Harry was left staring into those soft amber eyes that reflected so much emotion, so much love and pain. He couldn't do it; he couldn't tell him, he just couldn't.

But he had to.

"You might not be the father," Harry said quietly, refusing to look back into his eyes.

"Oh," was all he said.

There was silence.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked after a while as he felt the need to say something.

Remus nodded.

Harry could feel tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at Remus. _He _was the one that Harry had wanted a relationship with, _he _was the one that he wanted to be the father, _Remus_ was the one he had feelings for.

Of course, he hadn't told anybody this.

But seeing Remus like this…did it mean that he had _wanted_ to be the father of Harry's children?

"Say something," Harry whispered, unable to stand the silence any longer.

"Who…who else's could it be?" he asked, turning back to look at Harry.

Hermione had suggested telling them all that there was only one other, but he couldn't lie to Remus.

"There were, erm…there were three others," he said, not meeting Remus' eyes.

"Three?" asked Remus, and Harry felt shame flooding through him again.

"I'm not proud of it," he said.

"But to not know who the father is….they must have all been pretty close?"

Harry nodded, tears staining his cheeks.

"Oh my God, Harry," he said, disbelievingly, "Four? You slept with four different people in the space of what? Two weeks?"

"I said I wasn't proud of it, ok?" cried Harry.

"And was I the first, the last, what?" he demanded.

"The second."

"Who are they?" he asked after a moment.

"Just some people I know," said Harry quietly.

"Like?"

"Does it matter?"

"Kind of," said Remus, "They could be the father of your children!"

When Harry didn't answer, Remus sighed, running a hand through his slowly greying hair. He looked down at Harry, who was curled up on the sofa, crying.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you," he said, "I just…"

When he didn't finish his sentence after a while, Harry nervously looked up.

"You just…?"

He turned to look at Harry. Harry inwardly flinched at the look of pain on his face.

"Do you know why I slept with you Harry?" he asked quietly.

Harry shook his head, and Remus turned away.

"Because I had…certain feelings for you. I have for a while now. I still do."

Harry didn't know what to say. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Of all the things he had been expecting to hear, this was _not_ one of them. In his dreams maybe…

"Harry," he said, turning to look at him again, "It would be wonderful if I was the father, but even if I'm not I _still_ want to be with you."

"You…you would…would raise children, _three_ children, that weren't your own?"

"I would do anything for you," he said lovingly and Harry had to fight back more tears. "I don't care if they're mine or not, I don't care if they're father wants to be involved, I don't care as long as I'm with you."

"Really?" Harry said, barely audible.

"Really," he said.

"I can't believe this," whispered Harry, wiping his eyes, "You know how much I've…and I've wanted to…and I didn't know if you…and now you're telling me…"

"Harry," he laughed, "You're not making much sense."

"What I'm trying to say is," said Harry, overwhelmed with emotion (which Harry was _still_ blaming on the hormones) "Is that I…and ever since we…and then the other's I just...and then I realised I wanted to be with you…but I wasn't sure what you…and now…"

But before Harry could babble on further, his hand had flown to his stomach with a gasp, for he had just felt a soft prod against his belly.

"Oh my God," he gasped, "They kicked. One of them kicked!"

And sure enough, before he had even finished getting his sentence out, it happened again.

"You've got to feel this!" he said, and Remus placed a hand over his swollen belly.

"You feel that?" Harry asked excited as he felt it again, and Remus's face lit up as he nodded. Harry smiled and looked up into his face.

"What I was trying to say was, I love you," he said. Remus smiled, hand still on the younger mans belly.

"I love you too Harry."

* * *

lol, a very cheesy ending! I'll try and get the other one this time next week if I can sneak on to the computer again. Please Review! 

**Shadow Vampiress:** Yeah! Shove them all in the room, that's the way to do it!

**opal:** I did think of that but decided that the babies will all have the same father.

**TuRn:** lol, glad you liked it then. I suppose I should be Out of Character as a warning then. lol. Yeah, I think he's gone as well.


	10. Back to Hogwarts

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others.

**Summery: **One day in the summer after Harry's 6th year, an article appears in the paper that turns his world upside down. Knowing that most of what was said in the article was true, Harry fears seeing his friends and the rest of the Order. But, just like everything else, life has to go on, and Harry returns to school to face the music.

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews. I'm going on Holiday soon so I'm not going to be updating for just over a week. Well, it's not exactly a Holiday as such...it's just me going to visit my dad for a week which is boring but whatever. Oh, and I need help on something as well but I'll tell you at the end. Anyways, this is where the chapters start getting longer.

* * *

Chapter 10: Back to Hogwarts

Harry and Remus thought it best that they keep their relationship quiet for a number of obvious reasons. First, because they weren't sure if everyone would be as accepting as Ron and Hermione were about their relationship as they were student/teacher, plus there was the age gap to consider and the fact that Remus had been James' friend. Then there was the fact that everybody would just assume that he was the father and, what with the war going on, they really didn't want that all over the papers. As Remus would be returning to work at Hogwarts in a few days they had spent what time they could together, either going for walks in the park, going for a swim in the pool in the back garden, (which Sirius had purchased as soon as his name had been cleared after the events at the Ministry two years ago) or just simply talking and enjoying each others company.

Harry had told Remus that Ron and Hermione knew everything; they knew who the possible father's were, how those scenarios had come about, and that he and Remus were now together. When Harry had told Hermione about himself and Remus, she hadn't been all that surprised.

"Oh, that's wonderful Harry!" she had smiled, pulling him into a hug. "But it _was_ kind of obvious you had feelings for him."

"It was?" Harry had asked, confused.

"Of course," she smiled, "The way you talked about him when you told us you had slept together made it perfectly clear."

Harry and Remus were now spending their nights together, although they weren't doing anything other than talking and sleeping as Harry was all too aware of his own body, something which the book (his 'pregnancy bible' as he now called it) said was completely normal.

"Harry, you're not fat," Remus said for the umpteenth time. Remus was lying in bed, looking over at the closed bathroom door that separated him from Harry, who had now been in there for at least 15 minutes. "You've just got a big belly because there are _three babies_ inside of you."

Harry stood naked in front of the full length mirror, turning from side to side inspecting his belly. He frowned at his reflection.

"My stomach looks like it's going to explode," Harry called back into the bedroom. "I'm just a big, fat balloon."

He heard Remus chuckle to himself, but ignored it. He continued to turn around in front of the mirror, cringing slightly at the swollen size of his belly. How could _anyone_ find _this_ attractive?

He turned again but this time he caught Remus's reflection smiling at him from near the door and almost jumped a mile.

"Remus!" he scolded, reaching for his dressing gown.

"Harry, relax ok?" he said, moving into the room. "I've seen you naked before."

"Not with a fat belly, you haven't," said Harry stubbornly. He didn't know why he was being so shy of his body all of a sudden, but he just didn't want Remus, _of all people_, to see him like this. What if Remus found it ugly and unnatural? What if he didn't find him attractive anymore?

As if he knew what was going through Harry's mind (which, Harry reminded himself, he probably did since he was pretty gifted at Legimency) he said in a loving voice, "Sweetie, you're pregnant. There is _life_ growing _inside_ you. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you, raise these children with you. Plus, you've got that healthy pregnant glow. What could be more attractive than that?"

"You sound like you've got a fetish for pregnant men," muttered Harry with a small smile.

"The only thing I have a fetish for is you," Remus smiled, wrapping his arms around Harry. "And handcuffs," he added, "But that's another story."

Harry laughed, and looked up at Remus's smiling face.

"I love you," he told him with a kiss on the cheek.

"Love you too," Remus smiled. "Now, are you going to come to bed? You need rest."

"I guess," said Harry quietly, and he allowed himself to be led out into the bedroom. As Remus walked around to the other side, Harry quickly shed his robes and hopped into bed, snuggling deep into the covers.

* * *

The next few days went by without incident. Remus, being a teacher, had left for Hogwarts a day before the rest of them in order to get his lesson plans sorted and to meet up with the rest of the staff. Harry found himself constantly walking aimlessly around the house looking for something to do. Ron thought he was going mad. 

The day before their return to school, Harry and Ron were finishing some last minute homework. To Harry's delight (and to Ron's annoyance) Hermione helped him with everything, saying that he had more things to worry about and it wasn't his fault he hadn't finished.

After their Homework was completed, they spent the rest of the evening by the pool outside. Harry, after doing a few lengths, decided to sit and watch the rest of them as they played a slightly vicious game of water volley ball. He lay down on the pool chairs, delighting in the feel of the warm sun on his skin. He might as well try and perfect his tan whilst he could. Just as he was closing his eyes however, he felt a sudden chill and looked up to see a shadowy figure obscuring the sun.

"Can I sit here?" it said in a voice Harry recognised as Sirius'. Harry nodded and turned to watch the game of water volley ball just in time to see the ball, thrown by Tonks, bounce off Ron's head. Sirius sat down on the chair next to him and watched the game as well.

"I just wanted to talk to you," said Sirius after a while, "Before you went back to school."

Harry sighed. This was expected, he thought. He might as well get it over with. Checking to see that the others were still distracted by the game, he turned to Sirius.

"I have to tell you something," said Harry, watching Sirius's face for a change of emotion. After all, Harry had been pretty mean to him lately and he didn't want to go back to Hogwarts without explaining himself first. "There was...one…no, there were two…there were three others," he finally said, hating himself for not going along with the original plan and saying 'one'.

"_Three_ others?" said Sirius, stunned, but his face showed no hurt.

"Yeah," muttered Harry, "You were my first though. But I don't know which one's the father so…"

He trailed off, looking back at the pool where Hermione had just ducked Ron under the water and Fred and George were hitting the ball back and forth with Tonks in the middle. Sirius seemed to be taking this pretty good, Harry thought. At least he isn't shouting or looking disappointed.

"Harry," he said, reaching for his hand, "You know how I feel about that night. If anything, I want to be your _Godfather_. But I'm here for you, ok? If you ever need anything, need help with the babies – even if they're not mine – I'm still here for you."

"Thank you," said Harry, meaning it. "Really, thank you."

"It's no problem," he smiled. "But, if they _are_ mine then, if you let me of course, I want to be as involved as I can. I want to take responsibility."

"Yeah, absolutely," said Harry, not thinking things through. "I would never deny you access to your children."

"Thank you," he said with a smile. "Well, I'm glad we finally got that sorted. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"That you might not be the father?" asked Harry, and Sirius nodded. "I was scared of what you might think of me. I was worried about what you would do. I know I should have said something but…it was hard, you know?"

"I can imagine it would be," said Sirius sympathetically. "You told the others they might not be the father?"

"Only one of them," said Harry.

"Who are they? The other three?"

"I can't tell you," said Harry. "I mean, I trust you and everything, it's just…I'm not sure how everyone's going to react yet…and I still need to tell the other two and…"

"Harry," he smiled, "It's ok, you don't have to tell me."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "Ron and Hermione know about us," he told him. "They know about all four actually."

"I thought they would," said Sirius, "They're your best friends after all, and I'm glad you've told them. It can't do you any good to keep it all locked up inside."

"So," said Harry after a while. "We're ok now?"

"Absolutely," smiled Sirius. "See? It wasn't that hard to tell me was it?"

The rest of the evening went by pleasantly. When Tonks, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Fred and George had splashed so much that there was hardly any water left in the pool, Mrs Weasley called them all in to bed. Harry said goodnight to Sirius and went off to his room, feeling a lot happier and at peace with the world.

* * *

"Wakey, wakey Harry," said a voice from far away, interrupting his dreams. "It's time to get up." 

"Go away," Harry muttered into his pillow, reaching for his covers to pull over his head.

"Get up lazy arse," laughed Ron's voice, pulling at the covers Harry was so desperately clinging to.

With a sigh, Harry sat up rubbing his eyes against the sunlight attacking his eyes.

September 1st. Another school year to complete. The _last_ school year to complete.

The previous year had been somewhat eventful. Dumbledore had been giving Harry private lessons, teaching him about Voldemort's childhood. Harry hadn't been surprised to find out that he had been one sadistic kid, getting fun out of scaring other children, maybe even damaging them psychologically. Harry and Dumbledore had learnt the reason why Voldemort couldn't be killed, which added to Harry's hatred of the Dark Lord because he seemed like such a smart ass.

Voldemort had scattered bits of his soul across the world and it was now up to Harry and Dumbledore to destroy them in order to clear the path to Voldemort. Luckily, there wasn't a time limit for when this had to be done, so Harry had decided that he would leave that mission until he had finished school, in order to concentrate on his studies more this year. And, obviously, he wouldn't have the time or the strength when he was going to be looking after triplets.

Snape, no matter how much Harry hated him, had taken a pretty heavy blow at the end of last year. He had been assigned a particularly nasty mission by Voldemort and, on discovering that he could not do it, Snape had had to pull out of the Death Eaters, blowing his cover as a spy. Snape was now almost as wanted by Voldemort as Harry was.

The morning went by quickly. He had hardly had time to eat breakfast when they were being ushered outside and into the Ministry Limo's which would take them to Kings Cross. With a hurried goodbye hug with Sirius, Harry pulled on the long, baggy coat he had to wear in order to hide his condition from the muggles, and was on his way.

As soon as they had all emerged onto Platform 9 ¾ he was immediately being dragged off towards the train through the crowds off staring students and parents, shoved onto the Hogwarts Express, pushed into an empty compartment, and the blinds were being pulled down.

"There was no need for that," said Harry, slightly windswept, but amused all the same.

"Harry," said Hermione, closing the window after they had waved goodbye to The Weasley's, "You're 7 months pregnant in case you haven't noticed. People are going to be staring a lot more than usual."

"Good point," said Harry, watching Ron put both their cases on the luggage rack.

"But he can't really hide it at Hogwarts," Ginny pointed out, sitting opposite Harry. "All the stares are eventually going to find him."

"True," said Hermione, pulling Crookshanks out of his travel basket. "But we might as well try and have a quiet journey."

"Aren't you guys supposed to be perfecting?" Harry asked as they settled down.

"Nah," said Ron, poking an owl treat through the bars of Pig's cage who was hooting excitedly, "Seventh year prefects don't have to patrol the train."

"And I'm Head Girl," smiled Hermione. "Professor Mcgonagall is going to give me a list off my duties at Hogwarts."

As the morning rolled by, footsteps and gossiping could be heard outside their compartment. He tried to ignore it, but it was proving easier said than done. Obviously everybody had read the article in the paper and wanted to see if it was true.

"Don't let it bother you," said Ginny, looking up from her game of exploding snap with Neville and Ron. (Luna and Neville had dropped by shortly after the train had rounded the corner from the station.)

"I'm not," said Harry, "I'm just worried about what they're all going to say once we get to Hogwarts."

"Well, whatever they say, just ignore it," said Luna from over the top of _The Quibbler._ "They obviously have nothing better to talk about than other people's lives."

"Yeah," sighed Harry.

The afternoon went on, and the scenery outside their window grew darker and wilder as the train sped through forests and woods. The noise in the corridor grew louder as more people became restless. Harry, still trying to ignore the gossip that passed the door, joined in the conversations about Quidditch, which lifted his spirits greatly. France had won the Quidditch European Cup, beating Portugal 650 – 620, and now the focus was on the Quidditch World Cup again, which teams would be competing for all this year – the final was to happen next summer.

The talk of Quidditch was interrupted by the witch with the lunch trolley and they all hurried over to purchase sweets, drinks, cakes, and pastries.

The sky outside grew darker, and stars started to appear in the night sky, many of them obscured by the many rain clouds drifting across the sky like ghostly spectres.

As the train sped on, talk gradually turned to careers. Neville, whose best subject was Herbology, wanted to work in that particular area although he was unsure of what jobs were available. Ron, who had once wanted to be an Auror, wasn't sure of what he wanted to do as he kept changing his mind. Hermione, who at one point had been dead set on doing something worthwhile, was now considering her many options. She either wanted to work in or be Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, set up her own campaign for house elves, work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, become a member of the Wizengamot (wizards council), or set up a place for house elves where they could live their own lives.

"I think you'd make a good Minister for Magic," said Ginny seriously. "Think about it; it's worthwhile, you'll make a difference, and you have _a lot_ of power and say as to what goes on in the magical community."

Ginny, who was also undecided, wanted to be either a Healer or play Quidditch. Luna had lots of options - which were all pretty different but involved the same weird and wonderful things that Harry had come to associate with Luna - and she wanted to try them all out before she decided. She wanted to either go off on expeditions looking for rare magical creatures, continue in her father's footsteps and take over _The Quibbler,_ or work in the Department of Mysteries. Harry wanted to be an Auror, eventually becoming Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"You should play Quidditch Harry," Ginny said with a smile, "Me, you, and Ron could revive the England Quidditch Team and get them winning again."

"Speaking of Quidditch," said Ron, looking round at Luna who was sitting in the corner looking as dreamy as ever. "Are you commentating again this year?"

"Yeah," smiled Ginny. "You really should. It was so funny. But you," she added, "Funny in a good way." Luna smiled.

"It depends if Professor Mcgonagall lets me," she said.

"Well if she doesn't we should all go on strike," said Ron. "Refuse to play until she lets you commentate."

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," said Hermione suddenly, looking up from her copy of _Extremely Advanced Charms, _"But how is it that no matter what we talk about we always end up talking about Quidditch?"

"Because it's the most interesting thing to talk about," said Harry proudly, stroking a purring Crookshanks he had decided that Harry knee was the best place for a nap.

"Oh, that's a lovely ring Harry," said Luna, noticing the gold ring on Harry's finger. Harry had placed the ring on his middle finger of his right hand, determined not to have anyone mistake it for a wedding ring.

"Thanks," he smiled. "Sirius gave it to me for my birthday, along with this watch."

It had taken Harry a while to decide what places he should put onto the watch in the place of the usual 12 numbers. With the help of Ron, Hermione, Remus, and Sirius last night he had finally decided upon:

1: Shopping. 2: Travelling. 3: Home.

These seemed the most ordinary and less likely to be used due to the fact that 8 out of 9 of them would be at Hogwarts. Then there was:

4: Lessons. 5: With You. 6: Hogwarts/Safe.

Since there would be so many of them at Hogwarts, Harry had decided to break the categories up to be more specific. 'Hogwarts/Safe' simply meant that whilst Harry couldn't be exactly sure where they were, they were defiantly at Hogwarts and were safe.

7: Lost/Safe. 8: Order Mission. 9: Hospital.

'Lost/Safe' meant what it sounded like. They were lost but not in any danger.

10: Hogwarts/Danger. 11: Lost/Danger. 12: Mortal Peril.

And if any of the watches hands pointed to one of these then there was reason to panic. At least 'Hogwarts/Danger' gave some vague idea of where they were.

He showed her the watch with all the names on. The names 'Albus', 'Remus', and 'Hagrid' were pointed at 'Hogwarts/Safe. 'Sirius' was at 'Home', and the rest of them were pointing at 'With You'.

"I hope you don't mind me putting your names in," he said to Neville and Luna. "I'm not spying on you or anything."

"I think it's very nice of you," said Neville.

"Yes," Luna agreed. "You're making sure we're safe, just like friends."

"We _are_ friends," he pointed out, not for the first time since they had met."

At last, at long last, the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station and they disembarked (Harry surrounded by his friends as not to attract attention just yet). Shielding their faces against the rain, they hurried over to the gates and climbed into an empty carriage.

"Why does it have to rain every year?" Ginny moaned, pulling out her hairbrush and combing it through her hair.

"Its tradition," smiled Hermione, shutting her umbrella and closing the carriage door.

Harry looked out of the rain splattered window and smiled as he saw Hogwarts Castle emerge as they rounded a corner and started up the path. The castle always looked magical at night, with all its windows lit up, the darker turrets and towers being left in shadow. He always found himself slightly awestruck by the sight of it.

"Ouch," he gasped and his hand immediately flew to his large stomach.

"What is it?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "Yeah, I'm fine. It was just the babies kicking again."

"Kicking? Oh, Harry, can I feel?" asked Ginny excitedly, and she leaned across to put her hand on his stomach, as did Luna and Hermione.

"Awwwww!" they all squealed when one of them kicked against Harry's stomach again.

"I can't believe there're three babies inside there," said Luna, her hand still resting on his belly.

"I know," said Ginny. "And being 7 months pregnant, those babies are going to be pretty big. It's a wonder they can fit in there."

"How do they come out?" asked Ron with a puzzled expression. The other's looked at Harry.

"Yeah, how _do_ they come out?" asked Neville.

"The way they got in there," said Ginny. "But he has to take a potion when he goes into labour so it's easier."

"The way they got in?" said Ron. "So it's gonna be like…having a shit?"

"Ron!" they laughed.

"In a way, yes, I suppose it is," grinned Ginny. "But I wouldn't quite put it like that."

"How do you know so much about this?" asked Ron, looking over at his sister.

"I _read_, Ronald," she sighed. "Besides, if I'm considering becoming a Healer, it helps to know these things."

They finally pulled up at the oak front doors and they clambered out of the carriage and joined the other students heading for the doors and warmth. Harry followed, somewhat reluctant to go in now he was here.

"You'll be ok," said Hermione, putting an arm around him. "Come on, we'll all go in together."

* * *

**Help!** Righto. I've had a rather productive day. I've managed to write quite a few more chapters for this. I have actually wrote the birth and am now up to the part where the father is revealed. But I have come across 2 things that have had me thinking for ages. 

1. The names. Now, I have already named the boy and one of the girls. But I'm struggling with coming up with another girl name. Any suggestions will be greatly appriciated. I need a first and middle name for a girl.

2. Who is the bloody father? Argh! I don't know if I should have Remus and make them all happy, or Sirius to add a bit of a twist to it. Whatever happens he will end up with Remus, I just need to know who you guys want the father to be. I have ideas for both scenerio's though, I just can't decided which one to use.

Thank you for your help and please review!


	11. Dramatic Disasters

**Sorry for the confussion but I'm reposting this chapter because it seems the end of it has disappeared. It was there last night and this morning but it just seems to have...vanished. Again, sorry for the confusion. But, I am glad to say, the mystery of the vanishing half-a-chapter isn't my fault. lol.**

Chapter 11: Dramatic Disasters

As soon as he set one foot in the Great Hall he knew his life was over. He could practically feel all their eyes burning holes in him and his ears were filled with the sound of their gossip which sounded oddly like a swarm of bees.

Keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the ground, he allowed Hermione to lead him over to the Gryffindor table at the other end of the hall. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see students whispering behind their hands to one another, pointing and staring as he passed them.

He sat down in between Hermione and Ginny, Ron and Neville sitting opposite to try to block him from view of the Slytherins whilst Luna said goodbye and wandered off to the Ravenclaw table where she was immediately crowded by people, no doubt asking questions about Harry. Luna ignored them.

"At least that's over," said Hermione, shrugging her wet cloak off and draping it over the bench.

Harry, who still hadn't looked up, nodded quietly.

"Don't let it get to you Harry," said Ginny, patting him on the shoulder.

"You know what Hogwarts is like with gossip," said Ron, glaring at a bunch of third year Hufflepuffs who had just walked by in order to get a better look at Harry. "It thrives on it."

"I suppose I'll just have to get used to it again," said Harry.

They sat in silence as the rest of the students filed in and took up their seats at their house tables, all of them looking over at the Gryffindor table every now and then but Harry did his best to ignore them.

"…sure you're alright mate? You've been quiet the whole journey."

Harry looked up to see fellow Gryffindor 7th years Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan taking their seats at their table. Dean was looking downcast and was purposefully avoiding looking over at Harry and his friends.

"I'm fine," he muttered to Seamus, "Just tired. I'll feel better in the morning."

Harry turned back to the others and found that Hermione was looking straight at him, her eyes wide and accusing.

"You didn't tell him did you?" she whispered. "You were supposed to write to tell him but you didn't!"

"I forget," Harry lied, well aware that Hermione wouldn't believe him for a second.

"Well, you better make sure you tell him tonight Harry, otherwise he's going to have a miserable year, worrying about whether they're his or not."

"And you think I'm going to have a jolly good time?" he said sarcastically.

"Harry…"

"Alright, I'll tell him, ok?" he snapped.

"Tell who what?" asked Ginny, turning to look at him.

"No one nothing," he said, annoyed.

"You don't have to get all moody with me."

"Then you should mind your own business," he snapped at her.

"Will you two drop it?" said Ron, looking at both of them, "This isn't really the time or the place for this argument."

"Ron's right," said Hermione, "And Harry, you shouldn't snap at your friends, we're only trying to help."

Harry sighed. She was right, of course.

"Sorry Gin," he muttered. "I didn't mean to get all moody with you."

"It doesn't matter," she said softly. "You're going through a tough time, you can shout all you want."

"Ginny…"

"No really," she smiled. "I give you permission to shout at me all you want if it makes you feel better. I want to help after all."

Harry smiled at her. His friends really _were_ the best friends anyone could possibly wish for.

Before Harry could say anything else however, a silence fell over the hall and Mcgonagall got to her feet with a scroll in her hand. It was then that Harry noticed the stool and the sorting hat sitting in front of the teachers table at the top of the hall.

"Here we go again," moaned Ron, resting his head in his arms on the table. Hermione rolled her eyes but Neville, Ginny, and Harry all laughed.

After a long, uneventful half an hour, the sorting was finally over (Gryffindor had 11 new students this year) and the tables had filled themselves up with all sorts of delicious food. Harry would have loved to have loaded his plate up with pizza, chicken nuggets, and chips but Ginny reminded him meals and more healthy products.

"You have to remember that the babies need all the nutrients they can get," she said, picking up a bowl of vegetable soup and tipping some into Harry's bowl.

"Yeah," said Harry, "But you also have to remember that I'm eating for four now. I need _food_."

"I'll tell you what," said Ginny, scooping up some chicken. "You eat that soup, and I'll let you have more chicken legs."

"Can I have some chips as well?" asked Harry.

"I suppose one lot of chips won't hurt," she said, "But stay away from the plain meats. I know you're allowed them and everything, but undercooked meat is really bad for you, and so are certain fish and dairy products and you can never be too careful."

"I'm sure the house elves know how to cook properly," said Hermione.

Harry smiled and scooped up a mouthful of his vegetable soup.

"Since when did you become his personal medic?" asked Ron, mouth full of pizza.

"Since just now," she smiled. "And you don't want to eat too many fatty foods," she added to Harry. "You might not be able to lose it later on."

After Harry had had 3 more helpings of soup, (which he was allowed to dip bread in) along with his portion of chips, mash potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, sprouts, chicken legs, and fish sticks (which Ginny assured him were alright to eat), the dinner vanished to be replaced with desert. Harry automatically went for the Strawberries and Cream.

"Don't forget to eat plenty of fruit," Ginny said, grabbing an apple and an orange and dropping them onto his plate, "The babies need their Vitamin C. And it might be a good idea to cut down on the amount of cream," she added on seeing Harry squirting cream all over the apple.

"The _babies_ want cream," said Harry, now licking the cream off the apple. Ron laughed.

"You know what I'm gonna make you," said Ginny, watching Harry cover the still unbitten apple with cream again, "I'm gonna make you a nice strawberry milkshake."

"Oh, can I have a banana one?" asked Ron, watching his sister pull out her wand. Ginny ignored him as she dropped a few strawberries into a glass then poured some milk and ice cream in before tapping the top of the glass with her wand. The contents swirled around and mixed together.

"There you go," she said, passing the glass to Harry.

Three milkshakes, two apples, a few cookies, a piece of chocolate cake, and sponge cake with custard later, (Ginny let him have a treat) the food disappeared leaving only their drinks.

Dumbledore got to his feet at the teachers table and silence fell.

"To our new students, welcome," he said, as he did every year, "To our old students, welcome back! Now, as always, I have a few start-of-term notices to give out. First years should know, and older students should be reminded, that the _Forbidden_ Forest is _forbidden_ to all students at all times…"

Harry took a slurp of his milkshake.

"…that any items from the joke shop 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', along with a number of other items, are against school rules and any students caught using them will have to pay the price." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"Notice he said they weren't _banned_," said Ron to the others with a smile, "He said we'd be punished if we were _caught_."

"Ron, you're still a prefect," said Hermione, "You shouldn't have them in the first place."

"Yeah, but I'm also a _Weasley_," he smirked, "How can I _not_ have them when my brothers were the ones who invented them?"

Harry took another slurp of his drink.

"…welcome back Professor Lupin who has, by some wonderful miracle, survived another year as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and will hopefully survive many more to come."

There was enthusiastic applause for Professor Lupin, accompanied by cheers and whistles from the Gryffindors.

"Any students wishing to try out for their house teams should see their house Quidditch Captain within the next two weeks…"

"Bugger," muttered Harry.

"Huh?"

"I can't play Quidditch in this state can I?" he said, "I'm going to have to switch everyone around again."

"Well, with any luck, you'll only be missing one match," said Ginny. "I'm sure you'll be able to play in the rest of them."

Harry took another slurp of his drink before looking back at Dumbledore.

"…every possible safety measure has been placed on and around the school to ensure your safety. The Ministry Auror's are on standby at all times so, if in the unlikely event that something _does_ happen, we will have highly trained witches and wizards protecting us all. But I can't stress enough the seriousness of the situation. Voldemort is not just attacking; we are at _war_. As you are all aware of…"

"I'm tired," muttered Harry, resting his head on his arms. "I want to go to bed."

"It's almost time," Ginny said comfortingly.

"You think you-know-who is gonna attack again?" asked Ron, looking over at them.

"It wasn't exactly him who attacked last time was it?" said Hermione, "It was his Death Eaters."

"I know he's the Dark Lord and everything," said Ginny, "But it doesn't really set a good image of him does it? He gets his Death Eaters to do everything for him? It makes his look like a coward."

"I think that was because he was scared of Dumbledore," said Hermione thoughtfully. "He didn't want to attack Hogwarts himself whilst Dumbledore was here, so he got his followers to do it for him."

"And a good job they did to," snorted Ron. "I mean, what did they do besides cause a scare and bite Bill?"

Bill, who had been bitten by a werewolf in human form, had recovered from the attack quite well. Thankfully he hadn't become a werewolf himself, but he _had_ developed a short temper.

"Well, they _did_ out Snape," said Hermione, "Voldemort knows he's a spy now."

Harry slurped his drink again.

"Maybe Voldemort's just lazy," said Harry, stirring his milkshake with his straw.

"What?" said Hermione.

"You know, lazy?" said Harry. "Maybe he just got fed up of organizing all these attacks and raids so he decided to stay home and catch up on some reading."

The other four looked at each other.

"I think you definitely need a good nights sleep," chuckled Ron.

Harry shrugged and slurped his drink again.

LINE

Harry woke up the next morning feeling well rested and at peace with the world. Snuggling deep into his covers he signed as he remembered that classes started today. He rolled out of bed and stretched before grabbing his clothes and heading for the bathroom. Before he could get there however, he was stopped by Dean Thomas. He sighed inwardly.

"Harry, I…"

"You might not be the father," said Harry before Dean could continue. It was actually getting easier to say now. Plus, even though he _knew_ it would be impossible, what with the fact that he was 7 months pregnant and the Chosen One, he really wanted to try and hold on to his good mood for as long as possible and avoiding Dean wasn't the way to go about things.

"I…what?" Dean looked shocked but thankfully not hurt – always a good sign to continue.

"The babies might not be yours so…you know…don't panic."

"Babies? It's twins?"

"Triplets actually," said Harry vaguely, "Look, if they're yours I'm not going to force you to commit to anything. You can be as involved as you like."

"Yeah," Dean nodded as if in a trance.

"You ok with that? I can't offer you anymore since I'm already involved with someone and…"

"Oh no, it's that not," said Dean, shaking himself, "Nah, I'm cool with that. But…" he looked at Harry's stomach before continuing, "If they're mine then I promise I'll help out in anyway way I can whilst we're at school."

Harry nodded.

"It just, you know, it's sort of a relief that they might not be mine. Not that I'd hate them if they were…it's just I'd rather, you know…and I'm with Ginny and everything. She doesn't know that we…?"

"No," Harry reassured him, "No, she doesn't know. And I completely understand about everything."

"Good," said Dean, looking awkward, "Well, I, erm, I better go and get dressed. I'll see you in class later."

"Yeah," said Harry, "I guess I'll see you later."

And he made his way into the bathroom and had a shower.

As he was walking down to the Great Hall however, a thought occurred to him. He had been listening to Dean's words over and over again in his head, trying to figure out why he felt a sudden sense of unease. Something seemed to be poking at his brain trying to get his attention but Harry couldn't quite get a grip on it. He heard Dean's words play over again…

…_I'll help out in anyway way I can whilst we're at school._

Harry stopped dead in the middle of the Entrance Hall despite the fact that people were watching him with interest.

Dean said he would only help whilst they were at Hogwarts which obviously meant that when they were finished with school then he wouldn't want to be involved. True, Harry had Remus to help him but…why was he so uneasy?

Of course Dean didn't want to help him once they had left Hogwarts. Dean wanted to live his _own_ life. But _Sirius and Remus_ on the other hand had lived a pretty full life already, despite being only 37 years old. Sirius and Remus had both been through a lot and they had both offered to help Harry no matter what…

But _Dean_ wanted the chance to experience life in a different way. He didn't want to be tied down, he didn't want a constant reminder that he had triplets to care for…

But Sirius and Remus, both already having had gone through a lot in life, had both offered to help. Did that mean they were only offering to help because they had nothing better to do? Did that mean that Remus was only with him in a relationship because…

"Oh my God," Harry said to himself. "He's only with me because it's a ready-made family."

Still ignoring the students, Harry hurried into the Great Hall and over to Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, aware that many faces turned to follow him. He flung himself into a seat next to Hermione managing to knock over a jug of Pumpkin Juice.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked perplexed, seeing his eyes shining with tears.

"Remus is only with me because I'm his only chance to have a family," he sobbed.

"What? What makes you say that?"

"It just makes sense doesn't it?" he whined, "He and Sirius both offered to help me no matter what, and both of them have been through loads and they probably just want to kick back with a family."

"Oh, Harry," she sighed, putting an arm around him, "You're being hysterical again."

"Am I?" he cried, "Am I?"

"Yes," she said, keeping her voice quiet as Harry had attracted attention and people were now trying to listen in.

"_Muffliato_," she muttered waving her wand and the eavesdroppers looked around, tapping there ears.

"I thought you didn't approve of the Prince's spells?" said Ron with a grin.

"Ron, this is hardly the time to talk about that," she sighed. She turned back to the sobbing Harry. "I'm sure you've got it wrong Harry," she said softly.

"You weren't there Hermione, you didn't hear it," he said, wiping his eyes.

"Didn't hear what?"

"What Dean said when I told him," he answered. "He said he'd only be here for me at school. But Sirius and Remus both said they'd be there for me always, which makes you think doesn't it?"

"Not really," said Ron, but he fell silent when Hermione glared at him.

"They're only there for me because they want a family. Remus said he wants to be with me even if they aren't his children. Of course he does if he just wants the family!"

"Harry, you're being ridiculous," she said flatly, "Remus loves you, and he would never do something like that."

"Then why are they offering all this help then?" he demanded.

"Because they're _nice people_," she said simply. Harry looked up, unconvinced.

"Look," she said kindly, picking up Harry's timetable, "We have Defence Against the Dark Arts this afternoon. You think you can last until then?"

"Yes," Harry sniffed, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

"Good," she smiled. "Now eat up, you need you're strength."

The rest of the morning dragged by with the hours slowly ticking away. First lesson was Transfiguration with Mcgonagall and she wasted no time in telling them how important their N.E.W.T examinations were and that all free periods should be used for study as they would need to keep reviewing their notes since they would be moving at a quicker pace; the events at the end of last year had set them back on their coursework and they needed to spend extra time catching up.

"What you get in your N.E.W.T's all but determines what career opportunities are available to each individual. These results will be with you for the rest of your lives so make sure you work to the best of your abilities."

After double Transfiguration was over, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way down to the Charms corridor where they met up with Neville who smiled in greeting. The rest of the class wasn't there yet so they started a queue outside the classroom.

"You think all the teachers are going to be reminding us about NEWT's?" wondered Ron, leaning against the wall. "I mean, I _know_ they're important and everything, but do they _all _have to go on about them for half an hour? They did this for our OWLS, remember?"

"They're just making sure we understand what is expected of us," said Hermione, resting her heavy bag on the floor.

"Maybe so," said Ron, "But they only need to tell us once. We're not little kids."

"They're not treating us like little kids," she said, looking over at Ron, "They informing us of what's to come."

"Drilling it into us more like," said Ron darkly, "I don't appreciate them repeating it over and over again. Like we didn't get it the first time."

"Oh Ronald, just stop complaining, it'll help you in the long run."

"I'm not complaining," he said indignantly, "I'm just saying that I don't see the point in repeating the _same_ thing to _every_ single class."

"Just because it doesn't help _you_ doesn't mean it doesn't help others," she snapped.

"Yeah, well, you would say that wouldn't you?"

"POTTER! I want a word with you!"

They all jumped and looked round to see Malfoy striding down the corridor, Crabbe and Goyle hurrying to keep up.

Harry gulped and watched as Malfoy drew closer to them. He couldn't say he hadn't expected Malfoy to be pleased by the news. So much for his good mood.

Malfoy stopped dead in front of Harry, his pale face fixed on his, his eyes never leaving Harry's. Why, of all people, did Harry have to go and sleep with Malfoy? Why had he had to go and sleep with anyone for that matter?

"Care to follow me to somewhere more private," he snapped. It wasn't a question. Harry groaned inwardly and reluctantly followed Malfoy down the corridor, leaving a startled Ron, a worried Hermione, and a confused Neville behind him. He took a deep breath. _You can handle this_, he told himself.

Malfoy flung open a door to an empty classroom and all but pushed Harry into the room. He slammed the door behind him and Harry winced. He could almost feel the anger radiating off Malfoy.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're playing at Potter?" he yelled after he had put up a silencing charm.

"Excuse me?" said Harry, glaring at the boy. "If I recall, it was _you_ who wanted to fuck me! If this is anyone's fault it's yours!"

"You could have said 'no' couldn't you?" Malfoy snapped. "You could have pushed me away."

"I did!" shouted Harry. "I did, but you weren't having any of it!"

"You're just a fucking whore, you know that Potter?" he yelled at him. "I could kill you!"

"Then go ahead, kill me!" Harry yelled back. He stood still as he watched Malfoy stalk back and forth in front of him, angry red blotches appearing on his pale cheeks and a storm raging in his cold, grey eyes.

"Is it mine?" he asked sharply, turning on Harry again.

"Would you be bothered if it was?" he asked, choosing to keep the fact that it was triplets from him.

"Potter! Is it mine?"

"I don't know," he snapped, regretting it the moment it left his lips. Why couldn't he of just said 'no, it's not yours'?

"You don't know?" sneered Malfoy, his cold eyes glinting. "Could it, by any chance, be _Professor_ Lupin's?"

"Does it matter whose it is?" said Harry, "It's not really going to concern you one way or another."

Malfoy sniggered and shook his head, turning away.

"You were gagging for it that night," he said, a trace of glee in his voice, "You needed a good fuck."

"I don't see what this has to do with anything," snapped Harry, wishing he could just disapperate. Malfoy turned back to Harry, a look of pure malice on his face. Harry got the feeling that he was enjoying this. Well, to some extent anyway.

"You better pray that baby isn't mine Potter," he said dangerously.

"Or else what Malfoy?" snapped Harry, pretty sure that even if they _were_ Malfoy's babies he would rather face the blast-ended-skewts again then let him know.

"Or else I'm sure the papers would be _very _interested to know that the _Chosen One_ has been whoring himself around," he sneered, smirk in place. "I'm sure they'd _love_ to know that Harry Potter slept with his _teacher_ and his _Godfather_."

And with one last smirk, he stormed out of the room leaving Harry rooted to the spot.

Shit.

He could hear the blood rapidly pumping through his veins. He could feel himself starting to shake with fear. He bit hard into his bottom lip to prevent the tears from coming.

_Breathe_, Harry told himself, _just breathe. I'm sure you just heard wrong. Malfoy couldn't know. Just breathe._

But his breaths were coming in painful gasps and he was fighting a loosing battle against the tears he was desperately trying to hold back.

He couldn't believe it. This was all just…unreal. How could his world just come brutally crashing down like that? Everything…just shattered? How had he let it come to this? What had happened to the innocent little boy of eleven he had once known? The teenager who had fought countless times for his life and the life of his friends? What had happened to the boy who had wanted so much to just be accepted for who he was? The boy who had just wanted a normal life? How had he gotten from that to…to this _place_. This world where everything around him seemed cursed. How the hell had he managed to fuck up his life so much that he hardly recognised the little boy he had once been?

"This is not happening to me," he said to himself. "This is all just some sort of nightmare. I'll walk out of this door and everything will be alright again."

Getting a grip on himself he managed to get his legs to function and he forced his way over to the door. Hand still shaking terribly, he yanked it open and looked up and down the corridor. What was he expecting to see? Some sign that said 'April Fools' or maybe some indication that he had been transported into another realm where things were destined to go wrong?

When no consolation came he had to fight the urge to dash back into the classroom and hide. Focussing his mind on one thing he shut the door and walked back down the corridor in the opposite direction of the Charms classroom.

_Just keep walking forwards_, he told himself, _and don't look anybody in the eye._

It was possibly one of the longest walks he had ever taken. He could feel the stares of the students following him along the corridor, whispering behind their hands to one another. Determined not to give them the satisfaction that they were getting to him he kept his head down and trod the familiar path to Gryffindor Tower.

_Almost there_, he assured himself as he finally turned on to the Fat Lady's corridor which was mercifully deserted.

"Flobberworm," he shot at the portrait and she swung forwards to let him in.

How, _in the name of bloody Merlin_, did Draco Malfoy know about Sirius? What the _hell_ had Harry done to deserve _this?_ Why did _everything_ always have to go wrong for him?

He sat himself down on his bed, elbows on his knees, head in his hands, shaking. Thankful that no one was here with him he let his tears flow down his cheeks accompanied by his quiet, anguished sobs.

_I'm 17, pregnant with triplets, still in school, got a mad murdering lunatic after me, have to save the world, and I'm a fucking slut._

Why couldn't he just have a normal, carefree life like everybody else? Why did he have to be Harry 'the-boy-who-lived-to-be-the-chosen-one-with-a-couple-of-buns-in-the-oven-and-may-soon-need-a-psychiatrist' Potter?

With a loud, frustrated cry he stood up, knocking his school bag to the floor. Not giving a damn about what was in it, he kicked it and watched it skid across the floor and hit the wall before storming over to his bedside cabinet where he seized up the glass jug full off water and threw it at the wall with an angry scream. It shattered into a hundred tiny pieces and sent a small flood of water tumbling down onto his bag.

The room began to shake beneath his feet. The beds rattled and began to move slowly across the floor. The wardrobe doors and draws shook themselves open and a box of marbles fell out, spilling its contents across the floor. A photo of the Weasley's next to Ron's bed fell to the floor with a smash and the whole room began to shake noisily.

But Harry didn't care for at that moment he had fell forwards onto the floor both hands clutched across his belly, his eyes tight shut against the pain that had just erupted inside of him. He tried to even his breathing out but it was impossible as he was crying so hard.

Windows smashed, glasses blew up, and still the room continued to jump.

He screamed out but it was no use. No one would hear him; everyone was in class. There was a terrible pain shooting across his stomach as if his insides were being repeatedly stabbed with knives and his blood was pounding in his ears. He thought he heard hurried footsteps but he could have easily mistaken that for the frantic beating of his heart.

He pulled his legs into him and cried out again.

The room stopped shaking.

And someone burst through the door.


	12. Emotional Outburst

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

Chapter 12: Emotional Outburst

When Harry next opened his eyes he was lying on his back in the Hospital Wing. A gentle mummer of conversation reached his ears but was drowned out by a _bleeping_ sound that, when he listened closely, was beeping in time with the own beating of his heart. There was also a soft thudding noise that was sounding a lot faster and Harry guessed it belonged to something that was monitoring his babies' heart beats.

"Healer Neeson! He's awake!"

Harry turned his head and found that he was not alone; far from it in fact. Ron, Ginny, and Sirius were all sitting on the bed to his right, all looking thoroughly relieved that he was awake. Hermione sat in the chair next to his bed, her eyes puffy and red. Dumbledore and Mrs Weasley were sat on the bed to his left, and Remus was sat in another chair near by.

"You gave us quite a scare Mr Potter," said Healer Neeson as she scurried over to him with a smoking goblet full of a blue liquid.

"What happened?" asked Harry weakly, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"Drink this now," said the Healer handing him the potion. Harry drank it, resisting the urge to gag. It tasted like warm slime. When he had drained the goblet full, he turned to look at the others.

"What happened?" he asked again. "Why am I here?"

"Well," said Dumbledore, as the Healer took Harry's temperature, "You collapsed."

Healer Neeson made a disapproving noise as she looked down at Harry.

"I told you not to over exert yourself didn't I?" she said. "I told you that stress wasn't good for the babies did I not?"

"Are the babies alright?" asked Harry with a sinking feeling in his heart, but the Healer nodded.

"You were very lucky we found you in time," she told him. "'Course," she added, "It wasn't that hard to find you."

Harry looked at the others questioningly as she bustled off.

"The whole castle started to shake," said Remus and it was then that Harry noticed how tired he looked. "We all thought it was some kind of Earthquake until things just started to blow up on the spot. We realised someone must be generating a lot of uncontrolled magic."

"The whole school was in uproar," said Ron. "Everyone thought it was a Death Eater attack."

"We were able to pinpoint the origin of the power surge, so to speak, and we rushed off to Gryffindor Tower," Dumbledore explained. "That's when we found you lying unconscious on the floor. By that time, however, everything was still again. We immediately rushed you to the Hospital Wing and sent for Aurora Neeson as Madam Pomfrey hasn't much experience dealing with male pregnancies."

"We were so worried about you Harry," sobbed Hermione.

Harry sat there stunned into silence. He couldn't believe his ears. How could _he_ have done _that_?

"You must have been really angry and upset to generate that much power," said Dumbledore, no doubt reading his thoughts.

"The _whole_ castle shook," said Ginny. "Tables and chairs were moving and the windows were exploding."

"Was anyone hurt?" Harry managed to ask.

"Only a few cuts and bruises," said Dumbledore. "Nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix."

"But the pain in my stomach," said Harry remembering how he had doubled over, "What was that?"

"_That_, Mr Potter," said Healer Neeson coming back over and Harry saw Madam Pomfrey on the other side of the room attending to a few students, "Was a false contraction caused from stress."

Harry looked away from her and stared at his bed sheets. He had endangered the lives of his own _un-born_ children, all because he couldn't control his temper. He knew he had been finding it difficult to keep his emotions in check, what with all the hormones flying all over the place, but it didn't feel right to blame it on his condition. This was _his_ fault.

"I'm really sorry," he said sadly, "I didn't mean to…"

"We are not blaming you in the _slightest_ dear boy," said Dumbledore kindly. "These things happen. You're only accountable for the things you do of your own free will; where you choose and can understand the consequences. Stress can take over even the best of us, causing us to lose control of ourselves and of the situation. And our stress is usually caused by others in the first place," he added as an after thought.

"But I shouldn't have lost control like that," he said dejectedly. "I could have really hurt someone; I could have injured the _babies_. You kept telling me to control my anger but I couldn't and I…"

"Once again, it can not be helped and is therefore not your fault Harry," he said with a kind smile. "Now, if you will excuse me," he said getting to his feet, "I have to go and fix the windows in my office; they seem to have fallen out."

He smiled at Harry with an amused look before setting off down the ward. Harry smiled apologetically. As Harry watched him go, he noticed that all the curtains had been drawn across the large windows and many candles had been lit about the large room.

"How long have I been in here?" he asked, figuring that it was far from morning now.

"About 10 hours," Remus informed him. "We've been coming and going all day, checking in on you to see if there was any change. Dumbledore had only just returned when you woke up."

"Oh Harry, you've had us all so worried," said Mrs Weasley pulling him into a hug. "As soon as I heard I rushed straight over, and Sirius here was in the area already so he was able to pop right in."

"I'm just glad you're ok," Sirius smiled. "I was scared something really bad was going to happen to you."

"Well I _feel_ really bad for what I did," said Harry. "How could I just lose control like that?"

"It's not your fault Harry," said Sirius, perching himself on the edge of Harry's bed and wrapping an arm around him.

"But if I hadn't of…"

"Don't blame yourself Harry," said Remus, placing a hand over his, "It's the worst thing you could do."

Harry sighed but chose not to argue the point further. No matter what they said to him he still felt responsible. He had let Malfoy get to him; _Malfoy_, of all people. That boy lived to cause trouble and Harry had let himself fall prey to him. Maybe it wasn't _his_ fault after all, maybe it was _Malfoy's_ for winding him up…he knew that wasn't true but it felt a hell of a lot better to pretend it was.

"What I'm more worried about are those babies of yours," said Ginny seriously.

"As am I," said Healer Neeson smiling at Ginny. "You could have caused some serious damage to those babies and especially to yourself. You need to keep your blood pressure down, otherwise your hearts going to be pumping all the blood around your body but not to the babies', and then they'll suffer from lack of oxygen. Keep your stress levels _down_ Harry. It's very important."

Harry nodded but didn't say anything as shame flooded through him. _Malfoy's fault_, he reminded himself.

"Now," said Healer Neeson, "If it's safe to move on from this unfortunate incident, I would like to remind you that now is the best time to start preparing for the birth and what comes after. I realise that _right now_ isn't the time to talk about it so I will send you a few leaflets about classes that I really think you should attend.

"I have left Madam Pomfrey instructions on what to do in case you have anymore false contractions and there are a few potions in her office that will help with the pain."

She stood up and wrapped her green cloak around her before turning back to them.

"Hopefully I shall see you at the classes," she said. "If you can't make them then I will try and come here to see you in private. If, for whatever reason I can't do that, I have left information with Madam Pomfrey and this wonderful young lady here Ginny," she said, smiling down a Ginny. "She defiantly knows her stuff, this one."

"I have to get going as well," said Sirius regretfully as Healer Neeson disappeared through the doors. "Order business, you know?"

"Thanks for coming," Harry said with a small smile. "I really appreciate it."

"I would spend the night," he said, "Just in case you needed anything, but…" he sighed. "You'll be ok?"

Harry nodded.

"You sure?" he asked. "I hate leaving you like this."

"I'll be fine Sirius," he smiled and he hugged the older man.

"Right, well, I'll be off then," he said. "Make sure you don't over do yourself. And take extra special care of him," he added to the others.

Soon after Sirius had left, Molly had to leave to get back to the house. Fred and George were visiting for a couple of days and she didn't like leaving them alone, partially because of the Death Eaters, mostly because they were _Fred and George_ and were most likely to blow up the house if left to their own devices for too long. She said her goodbyes, gave Harry an extra hug, and was on her way.

"Well Harry," said Remus with a small smile. "You seem to have had quite the first day back."

"It's kind of funny when you think about it," said Ron. "You made the _whole castle shake_. How cool is that?"

"You _do_ need to keep an eye on your stress levels though," said Ginny. "You could seriously injure yourself."

"Speaking of which," said Hermione, "What caused it all? You went off with Malfoy before Charms but didn't return when he did. What happened?"

Harry opened his mouth but closed it again without saying anything. Before he could think of an answer however, Remus had gotten up.

"I'll leave you three alone to talk," he said smiling, and Harry smiled up at him gratefully. "I'll come back later on this evening to see you. Come along Ginny."

Although Ginny got up and followed Remus out of the hall without a complaint, she looked back at them with a confused, yet suspicious face.

"So?" said Ron, once the door had closed. "What did Malfoy say?"

And Harry told them everything that had happened in that empty classroom with Malfoy, feeling the same anger boil up again as he did so. When he was done, Hermione looked shocked and Ron angry.

"How the hell is he doing it?" Ron demanded. "How on Earth can he know you slept with Sirius as well?"

"I have no idea," sighed Harry, "But he knows which is defiantly _not _good."

"And he brought up the threat of the _Daily Prophet_ again?" asked Hermione and Harry nodded.

"Well, that's simple," said Ron. "If the babies are his just don't tell him."

"Ron, do you really think it's going to be that easy?" Hermione asked sharply. "He'll probably want proof that they aren't his, and even then there's no saying he won't go to the papers anyway. This is _Malfoy_ we're talking about."

"I want to know how he found out about Sirius," said Harry. "And why he was in Remus' office the other time."

"He might have seen you go in and decided to see what you were up to," suggested Ron.

"But what about Sirius?" asked Harry. "That was at Grimmauld Place. There's no way he could have got in there."

"Good point," muttered Ron. "It couldn't have been anything to do with Kreacher could it?"

"He's still in Sirius control," Harry told him. "And besides, he's ordered him to work at Hogwarts and take orders from me, hasn't he?"

"No, you can't go blaming house elves for this," said Hermione and Ron rolled his eyes. "Malfoy's definitely up to something if he knows about the two of them. I'm surprised he doesn't know about Dean."

"Maybe he does, he just isn't letting on yet," said Ron.

"But what if he tells somebody?" asked Harry desperately. "Something like that isn't going to stay a secret if Malfoy knows. If this gets out Sirius is going to be in a lot of trouble for having sex with his Godson and Remus is going to lose his job and I'll be expelled. Remus might even end up in Azkaban!"

"That's what I'm afraid of," muttered Hermione. "We'll just have to pray that he doesn't say anything."

"Speaking of Remus," said Ron, "Are you ok about your little 'revelation' from this morning?"

Harry had to think for a moment before he realised what Ron was going on about, but it soon came flooding back to him. It was hard to believe that he had actually woken up this morning in a good mood.

"The whole 'Remus is only with me because he wants a family' thing?" said Harry. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you guys were right about that. Seems kind of stupid now that all this has happened."

They were able to talk a little while longer before Madam Pomfrey came and ushered them out. It was only then, however, that Harry realised how hungry he was. He hadn't eaten since breakfast.

Refusing to let him out of bed other than for toilet trips, Madam Pomfrey summoned a couple of House Elves to bring Harry some food and drink. Unsurprisingly it was Dobby and Kreacher who brought the food. Dobby practically bounced down the ward carrying what looked like a picnic basket, whist Kreacher stomped along behind him carrying a tray with drinks, muttering incoherently under his breath.

"Dobby has brought Harry Potter his late dinner!" smiled Dobby as he set the basket on Harry's bed and pulled out the contents. There was a large cob of crunchy bread, a small assortment of fruits and yoghurts, a whole fruit cake, a bar of Honeydukes Best Chocolate and, Harry smiled, a can of whipped cream to go with the Strawberries. Just what the babies needed.

As Dobby was pulling out a knife and fork, Kreacher reached the bed. Without a word he set down the tray he was carrying onto the bed side cabinet.

"Dobby received a list from a Miss Ginny Weasley which noted all the foods you were allowed Harry Potter sir," said Dobby. "But she said you were allowed a treat if you eat everything up." He pointed to the bar of chocolate and Harry smiled to himself.

"Thank you Dobby," he said. Kreacher placed a bowl of tomato soup in front of him and Harry reached for the bread.

"What would the young master like to drink?" asked Kreacher somewhat sullenly but Harry overlooked it.

"Just a glass of water please," he told him, dipping his bread into the steaming soup. Kreacher poured him some water and laid it next to his bed.

Harry continued to eat in silence feeling all the more uncomfortable and aware that Dobby, in his usual tea cosy hat, was just sitting on the bed beaming up at him with big, bright eyes, and Kreacher, in a new Hogwarts tea towel uniform, was stood next to him looking slightly insane, his big, sharp eyes bulging.

Unable to take anymore Harry turned to Kreacher.

"Will you go and get Remus Lupin for me please? If he's not busy," he told the elf and it bowed.

"Kreacher will do whatever the young master commands of him," he said, before adding under his breath, "Even though the young master is a nasty, unnatural brat to go and get pregnant. What would my poor Mistress say if she saw Kreacher serving scum like the Potter boy? The young master is of no relation to the Noble House of Black and my Master shouldn't make me serve such people."

"Kreacher will not talk like that about Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, but Kreacher gave Harry one last withering look before disappearing with a _crack. _Harry just rolled his eyes and turned back to his soup.

By the time Remus got there Harry was already half way through the cake Dobby had brought. He thanked the House Elves and they disappeared.

"Well Harry," smiled Remus sitting down on the bed, "No one can say it wasn't an interesting first day back."

"Tell me about it," said Harry. "Fruit cake?"

"Just a small piece then," he smiled, taking the slice offered to him.

"So," he said in between mouthfuls, "Are you going to enlighten me as to why you made the whole castle tremble?"

"Because I was stressed," he said shortly, swallowing the last bit of cake and pulling the strawberries over to him. He shook the can of cream and covered the strawberries.

"And you were stressed because…?"

"Malfoy," he told him.

"Harry," Remus sighed, nicking a cream-covered strawberry off Harry's plate, "I thought you had learnt to ignore whatever bullshit Malfoy comes out with."

"I had," said Harry, "But this time it wasn't bullshit."

Harry lay his spoon aside and considered the man in front of him. If Malfoy knew about them then surely Remus had the right to know. And it wasn't just that he had the right – Remus _needed_ to know and he wouldn't put it passed Malfoy to milk it for all it was worth. He made his mind up and took a deep breath.

"Malfoy knows we slept together," he told him quietly as Madam Pomfrey had just passed by. Remus stared at him.

"Malfoy knows? How can he?"

"He said he was in your office and he, erm…well, he heard us," Harry muttered. He picked up the tray that lay across him and placed in onto the cabinet. He no longer had an appetite for the strawberries.

"He heard us? Oh my God…" Remus hid his face in his hands.

"Yeah," sighed Harry miserably.

"Is he going to tell anyone?"

"Hopefully not," muttered Harry awkwardly.

"_Hopefully_ not? What does that mean? What did he say?"

"He just….he won't tell if…" How did Harry get himself into these situations at all? He really did bring it on himself.

"If what?" prompted Remus.

"Shut the curtains will you?" asked Harry, and Remus got up and drew the curtains around the bed, shielding them from prying eyes. He heard Remus mutter a silencing charm as well.

"If what?" asked Remus again, sitting himself back down on the bed.

"If…" Shit. He was going to have to tell him. He had to. Besides, Remus would rather hear it from Harry than Malfoy, right? And Harry wouldn't put it passed Malfoy to drop hints to his teacher…

"He won't tell anyone if the babies aren't his," Harry finished, resisting the urge to duck under the bed covers and hide away. Instead, he settled for fixing his eyes firmly on the bed sheets. If he didn't look at him then it would be better.

"If the babies aren't…Harry? What do you mean, 'he won't tell anyone if they're not his'?"

"I mean exactly what I said," Harry murmured.

"But why would they be his in the first place?" Harry could tell from the sound of his voice that he was shocked and hurt but was doing his best to cover it up with puzzlement as if he was trying to convince himself he had heard wrong.

"I slept with him," Harry said slowly, still not looking up. "He's possible father number 3."

Harry had fully expected an uncomfortable silence to follow after his admission, had been prepared to just sit there and hold his breath until Remus felt like talking things through, but he was wrong. Remus didn't seem to need time to process what Harry had just told him.

"Fucking hell Harry, why would you sleep with Malfoy? You know what he's like!"

The razor-sharp tone of Remus' voice made Harry look up at him and flinch. There was pain and disappointment reflecting in his amber eyes as he stared down at Harry.

"I'm sorry," Harry said in a hurt voice; he hated seeing Remus upset. He hated knowing that he was the one who had made him upset even more. "It just…happened."

When Remus didn't reply he carried on. "Look, you knew there were 3 others…"

"I didn't know someone like Malfoy would be one of them!" he scolded.

"It didn't mean anything," he cried, and Remus scoffed and looked away. "It's not like I don't regret it because I do! I hate living with the knowledge that I did it; I hate there being a possibility that they might be his babies. I hate this fucking mess I've gotten myself into! Remus, please!"

He flung out a hand and caught hold of Remus' for the older man had just stood up as if he was about to leave. Remus turned to look at Harry.

"Why did you do it Harry? Wasn't I good enough for you? You slept with him just after you slept with me so that must be why you did it!"

"Remus, no! Malfoy was a mistake, a stupid mistake! I don't even know why I did it! It didn't mean anything."

"He could tell everyone about us," he said, ignoring Harry. "We would both be in so much trouble."

"I was 16! I was of the legal age when it happened!"

"The legal age in the _Wizarding World_ is _17_, and besides, I'm still your teacher."

"He won't tell anyone," Harry sobbed. "He won't be the father, I just know it."

"You don't know that for sure Harry," said Remus quietly. "And what's to say he won't tell everyone anyway?"

"He won't," Harry said, praying to Merlin himself that he was right. "He wouldn't want everyone to know that he slept with me would he? If he tells the papers about us than they'll eventually find out about me and Malfoy won't they?"

"You think they'll believe that though?" asked Remus doubtfully.

"If they don't believe _that_ then why should they believe that _we_ slept together? We could just deny it; they have no proof, not unless they use Veritaserum."

"I don't know Harry…" sighed Remus, but he sat back down again which Harry took as a good sign.

"Please," he pleaded, "Just forget about Malfoy. He only wants to cause trouble."

"But if he's the father…"

"Would you still be with me if he was?" asked Harry.

"Of course I would Harry, you know that," he said, and he reached out and placed a loving hand on the boy's cheek. Harry covered the hand with his own.

"Malfoy really didn't mean anything you know," he said quietly. "None of the others did. But sleeping with you meant everything to me. It was the best thing I've ever done – it brought us together."

When Remus didn't say anything he looked up with teary eyes.

"You do love me don't you?" he asked quietly, almost a whisper.

"Of course I do," he said softly. "What could ever make you doubt that?"

"Something…this morning…you're not just with me because of, well, because of the babies are you?" Harry regretted saying it the moment it left his lips. How could this man in front of him, this man holding him so tenderly, be with him if he didn't love him?

"How can you even think that?" asked Remus, obviously hurt by the accusation.

"I don't know, it's just been such an emotional day…and I really love you Remus. I don't want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me," he whispered, and he placed a soft, gentle kiss to Harry's lips.

"I'm sorry for being such an idiot," Harry muttered when they pulled away.

"You were right," he told him, lying down next to Harry on the bed and tracing a soft finger over Harry's lips. "It has been an emotional day for you. You can be an idiot if you want."

Harry placed a kiss to the roving finger and smiled, closing his eyes. "I'm not going to let it get to me anymore," he said. "I'm going to be happy and positive."

Remus chuckled softly and kissed Harry on his scar.

"Love you," he whispered, encircling his arms around Harry as the young man dozed off.

"Love you more," Harry muttered sleepily.

"That's not possible," Remus smiled, and he snuggled down into the bed and watched over Harry as he fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** I was just wondering; what countries are you all from? Is any from from England? (apart from me). Because I heard that America goes back to school/college soon, right?

Thanks for all your reviews, especailly all those in chapter 10. Thanks for all the name suggestions, they were great. I hadn't even heard of some of them - I love slightly unusal names. I went through a faze once when I wanted to call my future children (twin girls) Luna and Solar...go ahead, laugh at me. lol.

Have you ever cycled down a hill on your old bike you found hidden away in your shed and realised it didn't have working brakes? Only you realise the brakes don't work when you're already half way down the bloody hill and you can't stop. lol...yeah, I had a fun day.

Oh, and one more little random thing. The birth of the babies is in **chapter 14** so we're almost there. Yay! And I've managed to write up to chapter 21 so far - i'm so proud of me right now.

Please review. Pretty Please. With a cherry on top.


	13. Preperation

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 13: Preparation

The next week went by without anymore mess up's on Harry's part; in fact, things seemed to function pretty normal, without incident. True, Harry was receiving more and more stares wherever he went and he was the very focus of all the gossip, but as long as he had his friends with him he wasn't all that bothered. He was used to the way people's eyes followed him down corridors and up the stairs; the only difference was that instead of their eyes darting towards his scar, they were now more interested in his stomach.

He received many 'congratulations' from quite a large number of students and a few teachers as well. As Harry had expected, they all asked about the other father and Harry could only tell them that 'they weren't ready to go public with their relationship yet'. He was sure that everything he said to them would end up in the papers and it was obviously better to say it was a secret than tell them all that he didn't know. Harry had resigned himself to the fact that his life was going to be public knowledge for a long time to come. He didn't agree with it, but he couldn't exactly do anything about it.

Ron had suggested getting a lawyer and suing _The Daily Prophet_ and Harry had actually considered this until Hermione had said that it would only bring more publicity and would take a long time to sort out. But Harry still made a mental note to do so in the future.

Another thing that was annoying Harry was a certain Potions Master. Harry had tried everything to get out of going to Potions; he had said he was ill, said he needed to start preparing for the birth, had even tried to fake another one of those fake contractions. Madam Pomfrey however, had only found it amusing and had told him to 'be a man and face his fears.'

So Harry had been dragged off to Potions kicking and screaming – well, he complained a little bit anyway – and just as he had predicted, had been on the receiving end once more of all Snape's jeering remarks. At least Snape seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Aren't Potion fumes bad for the babies' health?" asked Harry as he made his way to dinner after another hour and a half of being stuck in the dungeons with Snape.

"Interestingly no, they aren't," said Hermione as she helped herself to some salad. "Most people think they are because, well, it's logical isn't it? But they're actually pretty good for the babies. It allows them to breathe in the magic in the air."

"Fascinating," said Ron, voice oozing with sarcasm. Hermione ignored him.

After dinner they said goodbye to Hermione, who had an Ancient Runes class, and Harry and Ron made there way back up the marble staircase. They were half way along the Defence Against the Dark Arts corridor when they saw Remus walking in their direction, his tattered briefcase swinging merrily from one hand.

"Good afternoon Professor," Harry smiled as they approached each other. He looked around to make sure no one else was in the corridor before placing a chaste kiss to his Professor's lips. Ron rolled his eyes and looked away.

"Harry," Remus smiled in greeting, "Ron."

"Professor Lupin," nodded Ron.

"You got a class now?" Harry asked, wondering if he would be able to spend the afternoon with Remus.

"I'm afraid I have," he sighed. "Slytherin and Gryffindor fourth years - nightmare."

"Well, are you busy this weekend? I thought maybe we could do…something."

"Something?" Remus smiled. "What did you have in mind?" Ron now looked extremely uncomfortable.

"I was thinking we could maybe have a romantic evening in," smiled Harry seductively. "We've hardly spent any time with each other and I miss being with you."

"And I miss being with you too," Remus smiled sneaking an arm around Harry and pulling him closer. "I miss your hands," he said, kissing Harry softly on the fingers, "And your neck," he murmured against his throat, "And your lips," he placed a loving kiss to Harry's mouth. Ron coughed.

"I would hate to have to interrupt you two love birds," he said, slightly red at the ears, "But Malfoy's coming."

"Oh bugger," Harry muttered, spotting Malfoy strolling down the corridor with a smug look on his pointed face. It was a good job Malfoy already knew about them otherwise _that_ might have caused quite an uproar,Harry thought. It was actually a good job it _was_ Malfoy who had caught them and not anybody else.

Harry sighed and straightened up.

"Whatever he says, just ignore it," muttered Remus. Malfoy drew level to them and smirked.

"Harry, I was wondering if you would care to accompany me for a little stroll around the lake," he said with a sly smile and a glint in his cold, grey eyes. "Maybe we could bring some food, have a picnic."

"Get lost Malfoy," Harry said exasperatedly.

"So that's a 'no' then?" he asked, smiling sarcastically. "Shame. I was really hoping for a repeat performance. You know how much I love running my fingers through your hair. Softer than silk and blacker than the Devil's heart."

"Don't be stupid Malfoy, you're heart's not that black."

Ron laughed whilst Malfoy sneered one last time before continuing on his way, but not before looking menacingly at Remus who just stared right back.

"He obviously doesn't know that you told me you slept with him," said Remus with a smile.

"I bet he was just trying to get me into trouble with you," Harry said, turning back to Remus. "But you love me _way_ too much to hate me, don't you Remusy?"

"Remusy?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah," smiled Harry contently, "It's cute like you."

"Ok guys, seriously, enough with the sweet talk," said Ron with a small, uncomfortable smile. "Don't you have a class to go to Professor?"

Harry gasped. "You're trying to split us up," he said in mock accusation.

"Now why would I do that?" Ron rolled his eyes. "I love watching you two make goo-goo eyes at each other. It's the highlight of my day."

The others laughed.

"Ok, I suppose I better be going then…got to face the terrible teenagers sometime," said Remus. He gave Harry a kiss on the cheek.

"Am I a terrible teenager?" asked Harry sweetly as Remus began to make his way down the corridor again.

"You're just a naughty boy," he winked, looking back at them.

"You gonna punish me Professor?"

But before Remus could answer Ron had grabbed hold of Harry's sleeve and was pulling him along the corridor, much to Remus' amusement.

"Seriously, enough with the dirty talk," he said to Harry who just laughed. "Have you no consideration for your friends at all?"

* * *

"You guys, help me," Harry groaned in frustration. His hair was on end from having run his fingers through it so many times and he was lounged on the common room floor surrounded by a flood of leaflets.

For the passed half hour Harry had been pouring over the leaflets Healer Neeson had sent to him. They gave information about all the different classes Harry could attend so that he could prepare for the birth of the baby and what came after. There were classes on feeding the baby, cleaning the baby, holding the baby, burping the baby, clothing the baby, bathing the baby, and so on and so forth. The problem was that all these classes seemed to take place when Harry would be stuck in lessons therefore meaning he could not attend, which would lead to him being…

"The worst father in the World," sighed Harry. "My babies are going to hate me. They're going to grow up and rebel against me."

"They're not going to hate you," Hermione reassured him for the seventh time. "You just don't know much about the process because you haven't been to any classes yet. I'm sure you'll be an expert in no time at all."

"'Course he will," agreed Ron. "Besides, you've got Sirius and Remus helping out haven't you?"

"Yeah, you're right," said Harry, cheered by this news. But then Hermione spoke.

"Which reminds me, have you actually stopped to consider the situation here?" asked Hermione. "You have Remus and Sirius offering to help with the babies no matter whose they are. Remus will be with you in a relationship no matter what, and Sirius, if they are his, wants to be as involved as he can. Don't you think that's going to cause problems? Especially if they're Sirius'?"

"Shit, I didn't think about that," said Harry, non-pulsed.

"Obviously," said Hermione.

"What am I going to do?" he asked, panicking slightly. "They'll find out about each other and they'll hate each other and won't speak to each other ever again which might jeopardise our chances in the war and it'll be all my fault!"

The moment he finished saying this he knew he was being stupid (yet again). Remus and Sirius had much more sense than to let something like this, even though it was a big deal, come between them. And besides, they went way back; they'd been friends for over 20 years and that had to be worth something.

But the fact still remained that Harry had never seen either of the men in a 'family environment'. Could these children actually be enough to tear their friendship apart? Harry really didn't want to be responsible for that.

The week crawled on, bringing them closer and closer to October. Harry spent most of his weekends, when he wasn't buried under piles of homework, with Remus. He found it quite relaxing to just be with the man; it was what kept him going all week, the knowledge that he had something to look forward to at the weekend; he could just turn up and indulge himself in cuddles and conversations with the man of his dreams. It was a good way to just unwind after such a tough, demanding week of school. And Harry found that he didn't need to talk about the future and the babies; he was quite content with just discussing food, class, and the weather. And Quidditch, obviously.

Harry had made Dean the new Chaser as Katie had left the year before. He had been pleased that finding the new player had been a lot easier than he had thought it would be and was relieved that he didn't have to hold such huge try outs like last year. He and Dean had reached some sort of unspoken agreement to not talk about the babies unless it was absolutely necessary and since Harry didn't see any reason to bring up that subject with his new team mate, they were getting along perfectly. However, Harry had forgotten that he wouldn't be able to play in the game as the match was being held one week before Harry was due to give birth. So he had had to do some moving around.

Ginny, who Harry had made 'vice'-captain, was going to be playing as Seeker in Harry's place, which left him with two Chasers yet again. Feeling that he wasn't up to holding more tryouts to find a substitute Chaser, he had called on a boy named Andrew Nord, who Harry would have picked if Dean hadn't accepted, to fill Ginny's vacant place in the one match.

Harry wasn't sure what to do during Quidditch practices. Seeing as how Harry was too big to even _think_ about getting on his broom, he simply stood on the ground and shouted orders at his team after explaining the game plan, something Hermione seemed to find amusing as she watched from the sidelines, a grin playing about her face. Obviously, watching an almost 8 month pregnant man stand in the middle of the Quidditch pitch shouting himself hoarse _would_ look pretty stupid to any onlookers.

On a better note, Harry's paternity classes were going alright. Refusing to sit around in a room full of pregnant men with their partners, (and partly due to the fact that Harry wasn't able to get to the Hospital that often due to school) Healer Neeson had been coming to Hogwarts to see him.

By the time October came around he was pretty confident that he knew what he was doing. He knew how to dress a baby without hurting it, he knew how to bath a baby without frightening it, how to burp a baby in the proper way and, after a few attempts that seriously had him doubting himself again, he had managed to learn how to feed a baby.

"I'm just glad they didn't let you practice on a real baby," Ron had laughed.

The classes they were now concentrating on were the ones that concerned the actual birth of a baby or, in Harry's case, three of them. This he had found highly humiliating and had been very thankful when Ginny and Hermione had joined in with him during the breathing exercises.

"Now," said the Healer, whilst she packed away some of the equipment they had been using. "Any questions?"

"Yeah," said Harry, who was struggling to push himself up into a sitting position. "Will it hurt?"

She answered his question with a laugh, which Harry considered to be quite sinister really, before flooing back to the Hospital.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then," Harry grumbled.

"Don't worry Harry, you'll be fine," said Hermione consolingly.

"But it's going to hurt," Harry whined as he finally managed to sit up against the arm chair.

"But won't the final result be worth it?" she asked softly with a smile.

"I'm not so sure," Harry muttered darkly.

"I still can't believe you're gonna have to push three babies out your arse," said Ron with a hint of amusement in his voice which Harry thought best to ignore.

"Where did you think they were going to come out?" asked Hermione as she helped Harry into the chair. Now just over 8 months pregnant, Harry was finding it extremely difficult to move around and had to have someone with him almost constantly. This usually left him feeling like an invalid until someone reminded him that he was carrying three babies around with him so it was completely normal to be struggling with everyday tasks such as climbing the stairs. His back pains had also grown worse and his bladder seemed to have weakened, meaning he was constantly waddling to the toilet.

"I dunno actually," said Ron thoughtfully. "Mum had to have…well, I can't remember what it was called…but she said she was cut open or something…"

"A caesarean?" offered Hermione.

"Yeah, that's it," said Ron. "She had to have one of those with Percy because he was all upside down or something like that. I thought Harry might have to be…"

"I am _not_ being cut open!" said Harry, feeling immensely squeamish at the idea. "These babies are coming out of my arse and that's final."

"But won't that hurt?" asked Neville, who had evidently overheard their conversation. He dropped his Herbology book onto the sofa and sat down beside it, legs crossed.

"Yeah," said Ron, sounding slightly awed. "It'll be like doing the biggest shit _ever_."

"It's completely natural," said Harry defensively.

"Well," said Seamus thoughtfully from the table in front of the window, "It's only natural for _men _in the _wizarding world_. So that's like, what? - Half the population in Britain? Then it's half of _that_ because there're men and women. Then there's half of the _male wizarding_ population because they have to be gay, then there's like 3 quarters of _that_ because a quarter of _gay wizarding males_ choose to adopt or have a surrogate mother, which leaves you in _quite _a small majority."

Silence. Then…

"What the fuck are you on about Seamus?" laughed Ron.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks to all those who reviewed, it means a lot. Now, to answer your question of if the father will be revealed in chapter 14 – sorry, can't tell you. Mwhahahah! But he will be revealed soon enough.

Anyways, this chapter was just a chapter that I couldn't do anything with so it ended up being a short little chapter on its own. I should have the birth posted before I go back to College (next Wednesday). I know I've written quite a few chapters but I don't want to just post them all at once coz I'm mean. lol.

**Remusgrl01:** I've always wanted to meet someone from Australia coz I've always wanted to ask them something: What are your Christmas cards like? If Christmas is in the summer then I'm guessing you don't have snow men on them, right?

**x Red Rose x:** lol! Unlucky. I bet that was funny to see!

**Regina:** Ouch! I bet that hurt like crazy.


	14. The Miracle that is Life

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 14: The Miracle that is Life

"Lethifold. A very rare, very dark creature found mainly in tropical climates. It looks like a sort of black cloak, perhaps half an inch thick - thicker if it has recently killed and digested its victim. Strongly resembling a shadow at times, it glides along the ground at night, hunting its prey. Since it generally attacks while the victim is sleeping, its victims rarely have a chance to use any magic against it and save themselves. Even if they were awake it is immensely difficult to kill one as no one knows how to kill them."

"Professor?" said Seamus, his hand in the air. "Doesn't the Patronus spell kill it?"

"That is only a rumour," said Professor Lupin to the class. "No one has ever survived an attack from the Lethifold and the man who claims to have done so also claims to have been abducted by Merpeople and been forced fed Flobberworms. Now, I want you all to turn to page 183 and make notes."

Harry flicked to the right page of _Creatures of the Dark Side: An In-depth Guide to Protection Against the Deadly. _An entire page was taken up by a moving photograph of a Lethifold. Indeed, it did greatly resemble a shadow; the only giveaway was the fact that it was gliding downwards from the wall and across the floor and, from an angle, you could see the thickness of it.

They were in Defence Against the Dark Arts and had been studying Dark Creatures each week. So far they had gone into detail about Nundu's – possibly the most dangerous creature in the world. It resembles a leopard and moves very stealthily across land, spreading disease through its breath, and eliminating entire villages in one go – and Quintaped's – a highly dangerous, five legged, carnivorous beast that lives in North Scotland. Many of the class had been startled to hear that it lived so near to Hogwarts.

Harry watched the Lethifold glide gracefully over the page. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the person who had taken the picture.

"Professor?" said Hermione's voice and Remus looked up from his desk.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Is there any _particular_ reason why we're learning how to defend ourselves against these creatures?"

Remus smiled as if he had expected her to ask that all week.

"Of course," he said. "It is suspected that Voldemort is using them."

Almost everyone in the class flinched at the name and a general mummer broke out amongst them.

"He's going to use them against us?" asked someone from Ravenclaw.

"How do you know?" asked a Hufflepuff.

"We have our sources," said Remus and by 'sources' Harry knew he meant the Order.

"But how can he control something like a Quintaped?" asked Ron. "How come they don't just turn around and eat him?"

"The same reason the Dementor's don't turn on him," replied Remus. "He's the master of persuasion. As long as he gives them what they want then they'll follow his every command."

"Let me get this straight," said Seamus. "You-know-who has an army of Death Eaters, Dementor's, Quintapeds, Nundus, and Lethifolds?"

"Don't forget the Inferi and Giants," said Dean.

"So what happens when the war reaches breaking point and he sets all of these on us?" asked Ron, worried.

"Well that's the whole purpose of this lesson isn't it?" said Remus, "To learn how to protect yourselves from them."

"Well, yeah, ok, fair do's," said Seamus. "But you said some of them need _at least_ a hundred wizards working together to bring them down, and some haven't even _got_ a known weakness. What if the school is attacked by Lethifolds? What then, eh?"

"Well," said Remus, smiling at the slightly panicky class, "If you would have read the page I told you to read you would have found out that Lethifolds are…"

"Afraid of light," said Hermione. "They only come out at night, so if you keep a light on when you go to bed they won't come anywhere near you. Light doesn't kill them but it keeps them away. So if you keep the common room light on there is no way they will be able to pass through it to get you in your beds."

"Spot on," smiled Remus. "10 points to Gryffindor."

"Oh," said Seamus, calming down. "Well that makes sense. What about the Inferi? They're afraid of light and fire aren't they?"

"Yup," said Remus. "So all you need there is the 'Incendio' spell. There's no need to worry, we're going to go over all the creatures we have studied at the end of the month so we're all certain of how to frighten them off or kill them."

There was a silence as everyone went back to reading their text books and then a scratching of quills as they began to make notes. Harry thought that the Lethifolds sounded like Dementor's souls. They certainly looked like they would belong to a Dementor. He made a mental note to try the Patronus charm on them if he ever met one. Then he wondered if he would be able to get away from it if the spell really didn't work.

"Sir?" Harry looked up to see Seamus with his hand in the air again.

"Yes Seamus?"

"You know how it goes all misty when Dementor's breed?"

"Yes…"

"Well, how _do_ Dementor's breed?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Lavender. "Are they male and female?"

"Ewwwwww," said Justin from Hufflepuff. "Do they have sex?"

"Oh, that's disgusting," laughed Dean, cringing his face up. "Imagine what there dic…er, I mean, there _things_ look like," he corrected himself, looking up at the Professor.

"They'll be all wrinkly and…dead," said Ron.

"You can just imagine it!" Seamus snickered. "Dementor's buggering each other in bed."

"Eww, imagine the noises they would make!" laughed Ron.

"They might suck each other off for a bit of foreplay!" laughed Dean. "Dementor's are well known for their 'sucking' after all!"

"I have such a disgusting image in my head right now," said Harry, cringing. Everybody laughed.

"You know what," said Remus looking amusedly around at the class. "How about we finish the lesson 10 minutes early? And whoever can find out how Dementor's breed by next lesson gets 10 points each."

The class cheered.

* * *

The next two weeks went by really fast. There was now only one week until Harry was due to give birth and he was growing more nervous by the minute despite the many reassurances he was receiving from teachers and class mates alike. 

The whole Defence class had been awarded 10 points each, giving 80 to Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, 50 to Slytherin and 30 to Hufflepuff. Dementor's, it turned out, actually bred by feeding. The more they fed, the stronger they grew and strong Dementor's are able to split themselves into two over a 24 hour period, therefore creating double the amount of Dementors.

Quidditch practice was now more frequent as the match was in two days time and everybody in the castle was looking forward to the chance to let off steam and cheer for their house; (Hufflepuff would be cheering for both teams, and Slytherin wouldn't be cheering for nobody).

Harry was coming to the end of his birthing classes and Ginny had taken it upon herself to make sure that Harry practiced his breathing exercises in his free time. As she kept reminding him, giving birth to three babies in a row was going to take a hell of a lot of strength and he needed to be prepared for the long haul.

The only thing that remained now was to decide where Harry was going to stay _after_ the birth.

Harry and Dumbledore had sat around for ages discussing whether or not he should stay at Hogwarts with the babies or go home to Grimmauld Place.

Obviously Grimmauld Place would be preferable since it would be quiet and Sirius would be there to help out, but Harry really wanted to stay at Hogwarts. His friends would all be here, Remus would be here, and school was here. Not that he wanted to go to classes and such, but he really didn't want to get behind in his work, especially in his N.E.W.T year. Ron could bring him his homework and they could help him get through it and understand the new work that had been set in his absence.

Dumbledore said that if Harry really had his heart set on staying at Hogwarts then he would obviously have to have his own room, preferably sound proof so that the other students weren't kept awake at night. He would also need to get a nanny to look after the triplets when Harry decided to go back to school.

Besides, Hogwarts was the safest place in the world.

In the end it was decided that Harry could stay at Hogwarts in his own room.

Harry's new room (which he wasn't allowed to sleep in until the babies arrived) was situated in Gryffindor Tower. A cupboard in the common room had been greatly enlarged and divided into 4 rooms; a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a living room/mini kitchen. Even though it was quite comfortable, Harry was glad that it was only for a year; he didn't want his class mates thinking he was getting special treatment.

So, after a slightly action-packed week, Harry was glad that the weekend was almost here.

"Just think," said Ron as they made their way down the dungeon stairs that led to Potions, "One more week to go and they'll be three little babies around here. That ought to liven up the place."

"I'm not so sure about the 'liven up' bit," said Harry, one hand on his stomach. "They're going to be nightmares aren't they? I mean, all they do is eat, sleep, and poo."

"Just like you then," Ron laughed and he ducked out of the way as Harry swung for him.

The lesson was just the same as always, and they had to work in total silence. Snape had them making a rather difficult potion that required a lot of concentration, time, and skill, which was, Snape managed to point out, something that Harry was very limited in. Just to try and spite the man, Harry paid no attention to him and followed the ingredients word for word, re-reading it three times before actually doing it.

"He talks about Potions as if it's some sort of life form," Ron complained as he dropped his ingredients onto his desk. "It's just a bloody cocktail."

Harry laughed and turned back to his cauldron as Snape swept passed them. No doubt he was trying to find fault with Harry's potion but Harry didn't give him the satisfaction.

"Add the fang of an Ashwinder, stir clockwise 7 times, then anti-clockwise 3 times. Then add the treacle of a Glumbumble and stir 15 times anti-clockwise. Potion should now be a thick, silver substance."

Harry looked down into his cauldron and was pleased to find that he was actually doing it right, despite Snapes jeering remarks he had managed to catch floating towards him across the room.

"Add one hair of a Mooncalf, leave for 10 seconds then stir clockwise 5 times. Add 17ml of cold water and stir anti-clockwise for 3 minutes. Potion should then be pure white."

Harry looked hopefully down at his potion and tried to suppress a smile. So far, so good. He turned back to his book.

"Add Dittany to the potion and leave for 2 minutes. Stir anti-clockwise 6 times then clockwise 9 times. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Potion should now be a light, milky green colour."

Harry smiled to himself before looking around the classroom. Hermione's potion was, thankfully, the same colour as his. Ron's was too dark a green and Ernie Macmillan's was, to Snape's immense amusement, bright pink.

Harry looked over at the clock - 30 more seconds to go until he could move onto the next stage. He was really looking forward to seeing Snape's face when he handed in the perfect controlling potion.

"Now add the root of Mellowsweat and stir anti-clockwise 7 times. Add a tablespoon of Acromantula blood and stir anti…_shit!_"

Harry dropped the tablespoon of blood into the bubbling cauldron and clasped his hands over his belly. The whole class had turned to look at him when he had shouted out, some of them sniggering. Snape glared at him.

"I beg your pardon, Potter?" he snapped.

But Harry paid him no attention. Thanking Merlin that he was stood behind his desk, he looked down at the floor. A small puddle of water lay between his feet.

"10 points from Gryffindor for using absurd language in my classroom," sneered Snape who seemed to take the fact that Harry was looking at the floor as some sort of shame Harry must be feeling.

Harry hands had begun to shake. He was still staring at the small puddle of water and could feel the beginnings of a sharp pain in his lower stomach (which might have had more to do with nerves than the babies). _His waters had just broken and he was in the middle of a crowded Potions classroom with his least favourite teacher. Great._

"Are you listening to me Potter?"

Harry slowly looked up and found the whole class still staring at him. His potion had turned dark purple and was starting to bubble dangerously.

"Another 10 points from Gryffindor for making this abysmal potion," said Snape and the Slytherins cheered.

"Harry," he heard Hermione whisper from behind him. "Are you alright?"

"A further 10 point deduction for talking in my class Miss Granger," said Snape's voice almost silkily as he wandered off over to inspect the Slytherins potions. "You are supposed to be working in _silence_."

But Hermione didn't listen to him. Harry had just doubled up over his desk, his breathing uneven. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were looking over at him with concern.

"Harry?" Hermione came over to him and stopped dead. "He's going into labour!" she shouted at Snape. "He's going into labour a week early! We need to get him to the Hospital!"

"20 points from Gryffindor for shouting out," said Snape, looking over at her with annoyance.

"But he's going into labour you idiot!" she yelled at him.

"Another 20 points for insulting a teacher," he smiled and the Slytherins snickered. The rest of the class, however, were protesting.

"I don't care if I have to insult bloody Merlin himself," Hermione yelled. "Harry's in labour!" Snape was clearly enjoying this.

"I'll go and get Dumbledore," said Ron and he shot out of the classroom.

By now everybody had abandoned their potions and there were multi-coloured sparks flying everywhere. Hermione flung one of Harry's arms around her shoulder and, with the help of some of the Ravenclaws, heaved Harry out of the classroom.

"Back to work" Snape demanded, but it was only the Slytherins who listened to him. Malfoy, however, was watching Harry intently.

Out in the corridor Harry leaned against the cold, stone wall, Hermione at his side helping him with his breathing. The pain was getting worse and worse and if he didn't lie down soon he was sure he would collapse. He didn't like to admit it to himself, but he was scared.

Hurried footsteps were heard and Ron came running towards them, closely followed by Dumbledore, his purple and gold robes flapping out behind him. Dumbledore reached him and held out a hand. He was holding a rusty kettle which Harry guessed was a port key to take him to the Hospital. He reached out a shaky finger and touched it, not letting go of Hermione.

The next thing he knew he was standing in a busy reception area and there was a great deal of commotion going on around him. A wheel chair was pushed towards him and he sat down, tears streaming from his eyes as the pain grew; it actually wasn't so much as pain, it was more the suddenness and confusion that had fallen on him that was making him emotional. He wasn't due to give birth for another week so the fact that his waters had just broken had really caught him off guard. He was terrified; it was all happening sooner than expected and he felt overwhelmed.

"Remus," he gasped, "I want Remus!"

"I'll go back and get him," said Ron at once and he saw him vanish on the spot.

"I'll wait here for Ron and Remus," said Dumbledore. If he found it strange that Harry had asked for Remus and not his Godfather he didn't say.

* * *

Three long, agonizing, hours later and Harry was still crying in pain, his contractions becoming more and more frequent. 

Sirius, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, and Mrs Weasley were all sitting around in the waiting room. Already they had had to get rid of some reporters who had bustled in, trying to get the latest on Harry's condition. Sirius was pacing up and down and Mrs Weasley was biting her nails nervously. She kept shooting glances over at the double doors as if she was fighting the urge to run through them.

"Why is Remus in there with him?" she asked. "Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the man, nothing at all. But, well, I never got the impression that they were_ that_ close."

"Yeah," said Sirius, stopping his pacing and looking around at them. "Why_ is_ Moony in there with him?"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer but before he had the chance to say anything, Hermione spoke up.

"Remus was passing in the corridor when we brought Harry out of lesson," she said automatically. "Harry saw him, grabbed hold of him, and refused to let go." Ron nodded in agreement.

Dumbledore looked at them and Hermione stared back at him, a silent plea in her eyes, willing him not to say anything. With a slightly pacing.

"I wish they'd let us know what's going on in there," he said, looking over at the doors as if they had personally offended him by refusing him entry.

"He's been in there for over three hours," said Hermione. "I'm sure it won't be long now."

* * *

"I can't…I can't do this," Harry breathed heavily, teeth clenched, tears staining his flushed cheeks. "I haven't even started pushing yet and I'm already out of breath." 

Remus placed a kiss to Harry's knuckles on the hand which he was grasping. He didn't know what to say. For the passed three hours Harry had been lying in this bed, turning from side to side, crying out in pain. Beads of sweat glistened on his brow and Remus lifted his free hand to damp a cool cloth along the boy's forehead. Harry was already out of breath from struggling to cope with the painful contractions and he had yet to deliver three babies. Although he didn't show it, Remus Lupin was worried.

"You'll be alright," he said as he stroked a hand through Harry's hair. "Everything will be alright. You can do this. I'm here for you."

Harry cried out and bit into his bottom lip. The boy was crying his eyes out. It really was heartbreaking to see. Such a strong, courageous boy reduced to complete self doubt in the space of just nine months.

As Harry tried again to even out his breathing, Remus heard the door click open and looked over to see Healer Neeson coming in. Instead of her usual lime-green robes, she was dressed all in white, her long, red hair tied back under a cap.

"How are we doing?" she asked kindly, coming over to the bed.

"I'm having the time of my life," Harry managed to grunt out before stifling another scream.

"His contractions are getting closer," Remus told her.

She snapped a glove on to her hand and lifted the sheet that was covering Harry's legs and waist. Despite the situation, Remus had to hide a laugh when he saw the look of indignation and shock on Harry's face.

"What the hell are you doing women?" Harry hissed.

"9cm's," she muttered, withdrawing her hands. "Almost time Mr Potter."

"I have no energy to push three babies out of my arse right now, thank you very much!" he snapped.

But the Healer had left the room. Harry turned, blurry eyed, to Remus. Somehow, for some strange, unknown reason, he felt he could talk himself out of the situation he was currently stuck in.

"I don't want to do this Remus," he told him and Remus saw that Harry looked extremely panicked.

"If I could push them out for you I would," said Remus comfortingly, damping his forehead with cold water again.

"What will happen if I can't push them out?" Harry asked after another agonizing scream which he had tried to keep in.

"Well it's not going to come to that, is it?" said Remus, at the same time wondering what _would _happen if Harry couldn't actually do this. But before he could wonder anymore, the door had opened again and Healer Neeson came in, followed by two others dressed in white; a man and a woman.

The male Healer went over to the machine that was wired into Harry's arm and wrote something down on the board he was holding. The female Healer wheeled over a tray, which was full of sharp objects Harry wished he hadn't seen, to Healer Neeson, who was now sat down on a stool at the end of the bed.

"It's time Harry," said Healer Neeson and Harry moaned and shook his head but he didn't have time to say anything as he swallowed another scream. "I need you to drink this potion for me."

The male Healer next to Harry handed him a goblet of a white, smoky substance. With the help of Remus he managed to swallow it. He noticed that it didn't taste as bad as he had thought it would on first glance. It was cold and tasted like crushed ice with a hint of vanilla. Then he noticed he was paying more attention to the bloody potion than the matter at hand.

"That potion will help make it easier Harry," said Healer Neeson. "But it can only do so much. You have to do the rest."

As she spoke, Harry could feel the liquid-ice flooding through his veins and into his belly. A horrible burning sensation erupted in the pit of his stomach and he screwed his eyes tight shut.

"I need you to push for me Harry," she said and Harry's eyes filled with fresh tears. Reality was starting in sink in; he really, truly, couldn't get out of this.

He took a deep breath and pushed with all his might, fighting a scream in the back of his throat. He clamped his free hand around Remus and knew he was digging his nails into the man but he couldn't help it. The scream escaped his throat and he gasped for breath.

"That was good," the Healer encouraged. "I need another one."

Harry took another deep breath and sat up, pushing with everything he had. He relaxed a bit then tried again and again and again, feeling himself becoming light-headed from straining himself, until finally…

"Congratulations," the Healer smiled. "Your first born is a baby boy."

Harry lay back, catching his breath and staring at the baby boy, wrapped in a soft, baby-blue blanket, that the Healer was holding up for him to see.

"That's my baby?" Harry whispered softly.

"That's your baby," Remus smiled and Harry noticed that he had tears in his eyes as well. Harry smiled up at him.

"That's _our_ baby," he said and he turned back to look at the bundle in the Healer's arms but not before receiving a kiss from the older man.

He couldn't believe that he had just pushed _that_ out of his body. How could such a beautiful thing cause so much pain? But as he looked into its tiny face, at its nose and mouth, he found that he didn't care what he had to go through if, at the end of it all, he would have three of those beautiful, innocent, creatures.

Harry felt the pain renewing itself and took another deep breath. He hoped to God that he would be able to do this.

* * *

Ron looked up from the floor, red hair all on end, as he heard feet running passed them. He found that they belonged to three Healers, all dressed in white, who were hurrying passed urgently. He heard one of them shout something and he distinctly heard the words 'Potter', 'baby girl', and 'stopped breathing.' 

He looked around worriedly at the others and it was apparent that they had heard it too.

"What's happening?" Sirius demanded. "What's wrong?"

But before he could do anything, the Healers had disappeared through the double doors. Molly burst into tears.

"How can this be happening?" she sobbed. "That boy's had enough heartache in his life. Why did this have to happen?"

"I'm sure it'll be alright," said Hermione shakily. "St Mungo's does have the best Healers after all."

* * *

"Please, you can't let my baby die!" Harry screamed, but as he had just spent the last half an hour pushing and screaming and crying and pushing a bit more, he hardly had any breath left to talk let alone scream. 

He tried to push himself up in the bed so he could see over the Healer's hunched shoulders but he didn't have the strength at all. All he could see through the gaps of bodies was a pink blanket. They were all talking urgently to one another, pressing in around the tiny body.

"My baby can't die," Harry sobbed, tears leaking down on to his pillow. "She can't die. She can't. I've carried her for 9 months, I'm not losing her now!"

The second birth had gone well, although it had greatly tired Harry. When it had been time to start pushing the last baby out, his body had given in; had just plain down-right refused to push anymore. He had tried with all his might to push but his body was having none of it. Healer Neeson had had to use some of the equipment on the tray in order to rescue the baby from Harry's body but it had taken too long and somewhere along the line the baby had stopped breathing.

"Please," he sobbed weakly, "You have to save her. I'll do anything." Remus was by his side, tears in his eyes as well, and Harry was still holding on to him for dear life. He had never seen Remus cry like this,_ really_ cry. Harry could tell he was trying to be strong for Harry but his defences had shattered some moments ago.

"I can't lose her Remus," he cried. "She's our baby daughter."

A cry broke free and Harry looked over at the group of Healers. The cry was unmistakably a baby's cry and right now it was the sweetest sound Harry had ever heard in his entire life.

"Well done team," said Healer Neeson's voice and Harry heard a collective sigh and a gentle applause. He looked up, heart beating frantically and came face to face with his new baby girl. She was still crying but Harry couldn't hear it anymore. All he was aware of was the fact that the daughter he had almost lost was alive and within arms reach.

* * *

**A/N:** I know I should be all happy and jolly that I've posted the (slightly angsty) birth chapter but I have had _such a bad day_ today. Loads of my friends got together and didn't even _ask_ if I wanted to come! And I haven't got a clue what I'm supposed to have done wrong. They all just got together and left me out. Well, me and my best friend; she didn't go either. We must have done _something _but I honestly don't know what. _We're_ the ones who always try and include everyone when we make plans, _we're_ the ones they all come and talk to if they're pissed off with someone else, and yet _they _leave us out! I mean, _I'm_ the one who pretends like everything is ok with me, _I _never worry the rest of them with _my_ promblems, _I_ always put on a brave face when somethings got me down because I don't want to bring the rest of them down. But, on the rare occasion that I _do_ need their help with something they start to complain that I want attention! I hate my friends! Argh! I'm probably over reacting but it's just been such a crappy day. 

But moving on from that little rant...thank you so much for all the reviews; they really keep me going and give me the inspiration to write. I always look forward to reading them, you guys are the best!

Again, sorry about the rant. I would delete it but I'd get the urge to write it all out again. lol. I feel better saying it anyways.

**About the Father:** Some of you have said that the father could be two or three people, each baby having a different one. Whilst I'm not against the idea, I don't think it would work for this, sorry. But thank you all the same for your imput.

* * *

**Sophie Malfoy:** lol, glad you're still here then! 

**Remusgrl:** Yes, I do have yahoo. BUT my computer doesn't seem to like msn, aim, and yahoo so none of them work anymore, lol. I haven't checked my emails for AGES. It just isn't fair at all. Anyways…I DO have an account on mugglenet! (LOL, that is the only way I can talk to people online now-a-days). I'm loveslupin. Look me up and send me an owl message thingy ma bob if you're on there as well if you want.


	15. It's all in a Name

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 15: It's all in a Name

"Look at my babies," Harry smiled with pride as he pointed over to where the three sleeping babies lay, wrapped up warmly in their different coloured blankets.

Despite the fact that Harry had been on a rollercoaster journey of emotions and had had to deal with a hell of a lot of physical and emotional pain in the last 5 hours, Harry considered today to be the best day of his life. Sure he had cursed and screamed and cursed a bit more, and sure he had wished he had never gotten pregnant in the first place, but if he had to go through it again then he would do it in a heartbeat. Nothing could ever make him forget the joy he had felt when he had first laid eyes on the precious little boy that was his son.

Hermione and Ron went over to the babies but a teary-eyed Mrs Weasley came right at Harry and pulled him into a hug.

"We have been so _worried_ out there," she said, pulling away and dabbing her eyes with a pink handkerchief. "We didn't know what was going on."

"Oh, they're so beautiful," whispered Hermione in wonder and Harry smiled again. They really _were_ three of the most beautiful babies Harry had ever seen and he wasn't just saying that because they were his. They had such soft, light hair and small, baby mouths; they were just so _cute_ – there was no other word for it.

"Such precious beings," said Dumbledore fondly.

"Aren't they?" agreed Remus with a smile.

"What have you called them?" asked Ron staring sweetly down at the sleeping bundles.

"I haven't decided yet," he told them, remembering to say 'I' and not 'we'. Harry and Remus had decided that they should only let their close friends know about their relationship and so far Ron and Hermione (and Draco unfortunately) were the only one's who knew. They trusted that Dumbledore would understand and wouldn't give out too harsh a punishment when he discovered their secret. However, they were going to wait until they knew who the father was until they told them, which shouldn't be too soon now. Harry was silently dreading Sirius' reaction to the news, but he pushed it to the back of his mind, refusing to let it trouble him on such a joyful day.

"Are you ok?" Sirius asked kindly, sitting down besides Harry on the bed. "Giving birth to triplets can't exactly be a walk in the park."

"I'm just glad it's over," said Harry and he lay back in bed. "There were a few moments back then when I really thought I wouldn't be able to go through with it. My body actually gave up half way through the third one; I was so scared."

"That's what happened?" asked Hermione, looking up from the artificial cots the babies had been placed in. "We heard one of them had stopped breathing. I'm so glad you're all alright."

They all stayed for a little while longer until the Healer finally came in and shooed them out, insisting that Harry needed a good nights sleep. With a promise that they would all come and visit tomorrow, they said goodbye and were on their way.

Harry snuggled into Remus's robes and sighed. It had been such a long, trying day and Harry couldn't quite believe what had happened. He had three babies; he had two daughters and a son. It was hard to believe that just 7 years ago he had had nothing and now, to him, it seemed like he had the world.

"What are we going to call them?" he asked Remus, turning his head so he could see Remus' face.

"We'll talk about that in the morning," said Remus kindly, placing a kiss to the top of Harry's head. "You need to get some serious sleep."

"But I wanna name them," he yawned, but his eyes were closing none the less. He turned over and pulled his covers up to his shoulder and fell into a dreamless, well-needed sleep.

* * *

"We need to name them," said Harry, turning his head to see Remus the moment he opened his eyes. 

"Good morning to you too," he smiled. He was holding a blue blanket in his arms which no doubt contained a baby boy wrapped up comfortably. He bent down and kissed Harry gently on the lips. "You want to hold your son?"

Harry nodded and held out his arms to receive the blue bundle. He had to admit that he was slightly nervous. The previous night he had refused to hold any of them; he had felt so weak that he was frightened of dropping them. He carefully enclosed his arm around the baby's side and, with the other hand, supported his head just like he had been taught to do. He looked down into the small, baby face and smiled.

"He's so light and delicate," he whispered, his eyes sweeping over the tiny mouth, nose, and eyes fondly. But before he could say anything else, the door opened and in came Healer Neeson, her lime-green robes back in place.

"Ah," she smiled when she saw that Harry was awake. "And how are we this morning?"

"Rested," said Harry. He looked up at her. "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me," he said. "I really do appreciate it."

"There's no need to thank me," she smiled, "But you're welcome all the same." She watched father and son for a moment longer before moving over to them and placing the tray she had in her hands on the side.

"Do you want to try feeding him?" she asked, picking up one of the bottles Harry hadn't noticed she had brought in with her. Harry nodded.

"Just hold his head like I taught you…there you go."

To Harry's surprise (and pure relief) the baby took to the bottle straight away without any fuss. He could feel a slight tug on his hand as the baby drank more and more. It was amazing how strong they were, yet at the same time how delicate. Once the baby had had enough, Harry went back to cradling him in his arms.

"Now," said Healer Neeson, straightening up and looking at Remus. "I need to have a word with Harry so…"

"It's alright," said Harry. "Remus can stay."

"Nope, it's fine," smiled Remus, getting up and stretching. "I really need to go and get something to eat anyway."

"You haven't eaten?" asked Harry.

"I didn't want to leave you," he said almost shyly and Harry blushed slightly. He kissed Harry briefly on the lips and left the room.

"Ok," she smiled, once the door was closed. "I wanted to talk to you about the Paternity tests. Now, I really think it's best for everyone if we just get it…"

"Over and done with," finished Harry. "Yeah, I agree."

"So I'm going to need a DNA sample from the people you want testing," she told him. "And since you are in no condition to be going around collecting people's DNA, I was wondering if there was anyone who could do it for you?"

"Hermione Granger," said Harry, saying the first name that came into his head. "She knows who they are and shouldn't have any problem with it."

"Great," she smiled. "Well, once we have all that, I'll need to take a sample from the triplets. If we get this done today then the results should be ready by tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

"What about Liam?" suggested Remus, his feet resting on Harry's bed, the eldest baby girl in his arms feeding from her bottle. 

"Liam Lupin?" Harry sniggered. He was sat in bed feeding the youngest of the three, the baby girl who had almost died. He seemed somewhat attached to her more than the others but the Healers had assured Remus that it was completely normal so soon after the birth, especially if one of them almost been lost.

"Lupin?" asked Remus, looking up from 'baby girl 1', which they were calling her right now. "Why 'Lupin'?"

"Why not 'Lupin'?" Harry asked.

"You _do_ know that there is a three in four chance that I might not be the father, right?" he said.

"Well, yeah," said Harry, looking fondly down at 'baby girl 2' in his arms. "But if they're, say, Malfoys or Deans, I'm not going to give them their surname, am I?"

"Dean? You slept with Dean Thomas?" asked Remus exasperatedly. It was hard for him to be angry when they were surrounded by three wonderful babies.

"Water under the bridge," muttered Harry. "The point is, whoever their _biological_ father is won't matter that much will it? You'll be their _proper_ father. You'll be there for them and everything."

"Well, still," said Remus looking rather touched by what Harry had said, "Why my surname? Why not yours?"

"Because I carried them for 9 months," said Harry as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Exactly," said Remus in the same tone of voice Harry had used. "_You_ did all the hard work so therefore they should take _your_ name."

"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "Babies always take the other parents name. The mother has them and they take the father's name."

"Well they shouldn't," said Remus. "It's unfair to the poor person who carried them. They were _physically_ a part of you for 9 months and should continue to be so by name."

"No," said Harry again. "I had the privilege of carrying them and giving birth to them. It's only fair that you get to give them_ your_ name."

"You call screaming your head off for 4 hours a _privilege?_" asked Remus with a grin. Harry ignored him.

"They should be baby Lupin's," he said stubbornly.

"Potter's," said Remus, grinning.

"Lupin."

"Potter."

"Lupin."

"Potter, and you're not going to change my mind," he added before Harry could continue the argument.

"Ok," Harry sighed. "Ok. How about they take both our surnames? Potter-Lupin…Lupin-Potter…Potter-Lupin…Lupin-Potter…Potter-Lupin…Lupin-Po…"

"Potter-Lupin," said Remus, cutting off Harry.

"Really?" asked Harry, eyebrows raised. "I like Lupin-Potter."

"Lupin-Potter then," said Remus with a roll of the eyes.

"But then again," said Harry looking thoughtful, "I think I like Potter-Lupin better."

Remus laughed. "Ok," he said. "So what about first names?"

"Well, one thing's for certain," said Harry with a smile and he looked over at the baby boy sleeping in his cot. "I am _not_ calling this baby 'James Harry Potter'. It's weird."

"Your Grandfather was named 'Harry James Potter' you know?"

"Well, this is where the tradition ends," said Harry.

"Alright," Remus chuckled. "Any ideas?"

"I've always liked Joshua," said Harry fondly.

"Yeah, that is nice," agreed Remus with a smile.

"Joshua Remus Potter-Lupin," said Harry. "Josh Lupin for short."

"Harry," Remus whined. "You're doing it again."

"What?" he asked innocently. "I'm just naming our ickle babies."

"Joshua _Remus_? Josh _Lupin_?"

"Yeah," smiled Harry. "It's cute."

"But why 'Remus'?"

"Why not?"

"Because….just because," laughed Remus.

"But I like it," Harry pouted, puppy-dog eyes firmly in place. "Joshua Remus Potter-Lupin. Joshua Lupin."

"Joshua _Potter_," Remus corrected him.

"Lupin," said Harry.

"Potter."

"Lupin"

"Potter."

"How about," said Harry, "We put it on the birth certificate as 'Potter-Lupin' and let the baby decide when he's older?"

"Deal," smiled Remus, but then he looked thoughtful. "I have an idea," he said slowly, looking over at Harry. "How about they all have the surname 'Potter', no, wait," he said as Harry tried in interrupt him. "They all have 'Potter' as their surnames but have their middle names…"

"Taken from your family," finished Harry, catching on. "Are you _sure_ you don't want little baby Lupins?"

"Positive," smiled Remus.

"And you don't want your family name to carry on?" asked Harry.

"I have nephews and nieces to do that for me," smiled Remus, waving a hand.

"Really? I didn't know you were an Uncle."

"Yeah," he said. "I have two older brothers. I don't see them much but I _do_ know they have _loads _of children so that's the family name sorted. You on the other hand," he smiled, "Are the only remaining Potter and need to carry on your family name."

"So no more Potter-Lupin's then?" asked Harry.

"Correct," he smiled.

Harry looked over at the baby wrapped up in the blue blanket. "Joshua Remus Potter," he smiled. "I like that."

"Me to," smiled Remus.

"You wanna call it 'Remus' or do you want to change it?"

"I'm fine with 'Remus'," he smiled.

"So," said Harry, looking at the baby in Remus's arms. "What are we calling baby girl 1?"

"Mary? Susan? Helen?" suggested Remus.

"I was thinking more along the lines of Lea? Caitlin? Serena? Marissa? Courtney?"

"Not Courtney," said Remus. "I like the name but it always reminds me of sunny, American beaches."

"You do know that 'Courtney' is an _English_ name right?" laughed Harry. "How about Marissa then?"

"I used to go to Hogwarts with this girl called Marissa," said Remus, wrinkling his nose as if he was remembering something horrible. "Nasty girl she was. Slytherin."

"Well then," said Harry, thinking through the names he had just suggested. "How about Lea? No, Leanna. How about Leanna?"

"I like that," said Remus. "It's nice and unusual."

"It means 'graceful willow'," said Harry knowledgably.

"How do you know that?" asked Remus.

"I read it in a baby name book a couple of weeks ago," he told him.

"Oh," said Remus slowly with a smile. "So you were planning all along to name one of the girls 'Leanna' were you?"

"No," smiled Harry unconvincingly.

"Sure," said Remus sarcastically, but he was smiling all the same. "So, what about baby girl 2?"

"Hang on," said Harry. "Number 1 needs a middle name."

"Marie," said Remus, still smiling. "It was my Grandmother's name."

"Leanna Marie. It's pretty."

"So what about this little one here?" asked Remus, looking at the baby that was now sleeping in Harry's arms.

"Rachel?" he suggested. "Bethany? Nicolette? Aracia? Skylar? Destiny? Kei…"

"What was that name you just said?" asked Remus.

"Destiny," said Harry.

"No, the one before that."

"Skylar?"

"Yes," Remus smiled fondly. "Skylar Nicole Potter."

* * *

As the morning wore on, their visitors from yesterday dropped by just as promised. Mrs Weasley brought with her a large bunch of flowers – Harry wasn't sure what they were but they seemed to shimmer in the light – and Hermione and Ron brought the traditional balloons to decorate the hospital room with and add some colour. 

"You wouldn't believe how hard it is to fine a balloon saying 'Congratulations! It's Triplets," Ron told him. "In the end we bought one that said 'Twins' and charmed it."

"And half of Gryffindor have taken the privilege of decorating your new room with balloons and banners and so on," said Hermione. "But don't worry; Professor Mcgonagall and I checked everything for jinxes, curses, and hexes so it's all safe."

"Everybody's asking about you," said Ron, pulling up a chair. "They all seem to know what happened in Potions and everything. I mean, what kind of teacher takes 20 points away for being in labour?"

"But we haven't told anyone you had triplets yet," said Hermione. "The balloons and banners in your room are all magic so they can change them once they find out."

"There's also some sort of betting thing going around the school," laughed Ron. "Most people seem to think you've had a girl. Some people are betting twins, and there are a few who are betting it's triplets but no one has got the sexes right…well, apart from me."

"Ronald! You are a prefect. You're not supposed to be betting, especially on Harry and _especially_ when you already know what he's had!"

"Oh, come on Hermione," he said as Harry and the others laughed; Mrs Weasley wasn't in the room. "It's a _sure_ win. When I see a chance to make 20 Galleons I'm not going to pass it up am I?"

They all stayed for most of the afternoon and joined in a sort of mini-feast when the Healer brought Harry his lunch. Dumbledore, Hermione had informed him quietly, seemed to be suspicious of the fact that Harry had asked (well, screamed) for Remus the previous day and, although the man hadn't said anything, Hermione was convinced that he at least suspected _something_ and would probably want to talk to him about it back at Hogwarts. Harry also got a weird feeling that Sirius was a little suspicious of Remus as well. Sirius hadn't said anything but he kept looking over at Remus questioningly, who was carefully avoiding his eyes as if fearful that his own eyes would give him away. Remus had later confided in Harry that he thought Sirius was on to them. Thankfully, they hadn't asked if Harry had named them yet as they seemed far too interested in the health and well being of Harry and the three new additions to the world. Harry and Remus wanted their friends (apart from Ron and Hermione who already knew) all to know that they were together before they informed them of the babies' full names as that _would_ be a dead give away.

After passing round the babies one last time, it was time for them to go. They all said good bye and reluctantly left the room, one after the other. Hermione, however, stayed behind.

"Healer Neeson contacted me and told me to ask the others for a DNA sample," she said to Harry. "I've managed to get them all for you. Well, apart from Remus but you can do that in a minute."

"There was no trouble was there?" asked Remus, obviously thinking of Malfoy.

"Not so much," she told them. "Malfoy brought out the threats again but that was it really. He seems quite nervous actually."

"Well, let's just pray they aren't his," Harry muttered and he looked over at the sleeping babies.

He had high hopes that they weren't Malfoy's. For one, he had expected them to have pointed faces if they were his and, thankfully, none of them did. Remus, however, had pointed out that that didn't really mean anything since they could have just inherited Harry's features and might develop Malfoy's later in life – a thought that didn't please Harry at all. But he was almost certain that they weren't Dean's and Remus was with him on this one. If they were his then they would have had darker skin. Harry was aware that didn't always happen but what were the chances of three babies not inheriting the darker skin from their father?

By the time Harry was brought back to his surroundings, he heard the flush of a toilet and Remus entered the room carrying a small bottle which he handed to Hermione with a slight blush. She took it with the same blush reflected on her face. Harry chuckled to himself.

"Thank you Professor," she said. She labelled the bottle 'Remus Lupin' and placed it in a plastic bag along with three others.

"Right, I'm going to go and give this to the Healer." She stood up and made her way to the door with a cheery 'goodbye'.

"Well," said Harry, stifling a yawn. "All we have to do now is wait."

* * *

That was another little chapter that I had to put in and if I had put it in with the next chapter then it would have been too long. But still, they _had_ to be named so it wasn't a random chapter after all. lol. 

Thank you all for your support - for the fic and my little rant in the last chapter. It means a lot.

**In the next chapter:** Harry has a decision to make but before he can do anything about it, things kick off.

Please Review!


	16. Let the Truth be Told

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 16: Let the Truth be Told

Harry woke up early the next morning. In the early evening yesterday, he had been woken up by Healer Neeson who had informed him that he was ready to be moved to a different, more comfortable room. Harry was very grateful for the change of scenery and had taken the chance to go and have a shower as he hadn't had a proper wash for 2 days. He had crawled back into his new bed feeling nicely refreshed, welcoming the soft, clean sheets on his skin.

This room seemed to be bigger than the last one, though Harry suspected that was because of the fact that loads of machines weren't taking up the space. There was a lovely, light blue sofa and armchair surrounding a pine coffee table to the left, almost like a mini-sitting area, and opposite was a door that led to the bathroom. The room he was in had a window over near the sitting area and Harry could see the autumn sun leaking in, splashing light all over the wall. There was an armchair right next to Harry's bed and next to that was where the babies had been placed in their plastic cots so he was able to keep an eye on them.

Harry stretched lazily across his bed and looked over at Remus who was asleep in the armchair next to Harry. His mouth was slightly open and a faint snoring was coming from him. He laughed quietly at the sight.

Harry just lay there watching him peacefully, feeling content and at peace with the world for the first time in ages. The morning sun fell across Remus' face and blended beautifully with his features, turning the grey hairs to golden straw. Harry noticed that he looked a lot healthier than he normally did. In fact, he had never seen the man look so healthy. He always, more or less, looked exhausted and the lines on his face usually showed that. But here, looking at him, he seemed the picture of health. He had wonderful colour in his cheeks and his skin seemed to glow with life.

"Why are you looking at me?"

Harry jumped slightly and sat up. He hadn't seen the eyelids flutter open and he now found himself staring beautiful pools of gold. Remus looked up at him with a curious smile.

"I was just thinking of how attractive you look," Harry whispered with a smile. Remus smiled shyly but raised an eyebrow all the same.

"You do," smiled Harry. "You always look beautiful. But it's just…I can't remember the last time I saw you look so…_stunning_, yet…natural. I can't describe it. You look so _well_, so at ease; so healthy, so..."

"So happy?" Remus suggested. "It's because I'm with you."

"Now you're just being romantic," Harry blushed but his heart was fluttering.

"Maybe," Remus smiled, "But I'm also being truthful. I haven't felt like this in a long time. It's like something has changed within me yet I'm the same person. I can't explain it. But it feels like a physical change, not just an emotional one."

Harry lay his head back down on his pillow and turned to look at Remus again, contemplating. He thought he knew what Remus was trying to say but he didn't know why Remus would feel like that. It was probably because he was happy; they were in love and were going to take care of the babies together and have a family; they were _happy_. He noticed Remus was looking down at him and he smiled.

"You love me?" Harry asked playfully.

"I adore you," whispered Remus.

"You promise you'll be with me forever?" asked Harry in the cutest voice he could manage.

"I promise," smiled Remus.

"Until death do us part?"

"Until death parts us."

"And you'll give me kisses everyday?"

"I'll give you lots of kisses everyday."

"And when I get my _gorgeous_ shape back you'll tie me up and spank me?"

"And I will tie…hey!"

"You have to promise me Remus," Harry pouted, using the best puppy dog eyes he could muster whilst trying to stop himself from laughing.

"And I'll tie you up and spank you," Remus sighed, failing to hide a chuckle.

"And when you do, you'll call me the King of Kinkiness?"

"All hail the King of Kinkiness," Remus exaggerated.

"See?" Harry smiled innocently. "That wasn't too hard was it?"

"Not too hard at all," he smirked. "Although, I can think of something else that's pretty hard right now."

"Remus!" Harry gasped in mock shock. "Not in front of the children."

"This coming from the guy who just told me to call him Mr Kinky?"

"The _King_ of Kinkiness, thank you very much Remus."

Remus laughed. "_You_ are adorable," he said, stroking a hand through Harry's hair.

"I know," smiled Harry. "And you love me for it."

"God help me, I do," he muttered before ducking out of the way of Harry's arm.

* * *

"Awwww, Remusy, look. Look at his ickle fingers and toes! He's so sweet. Yes he is, yes he is." 

"Harry, please, where's your dignity?"

Harry laughed and threw a pillow at Remus' head. For the passed half an hour Harry had been cooing over the babies and he just couldn't get enough of them.

He was now a lot more confident about holding them and as soon as one of them looked like it was about to cry he would pick it up and cuddle it. Remus had to admit that watching Harry with them was one of the cutest things he had ever witnessed. But hearing Harry talk 'baby talk' was driving him slightly insane.

"They're like ickle cutey puppy dogs, aren't they Remus?"

"As long as you don't start feeding them dog food then yes, I suppose they are," he said, then added, "Apart from the fact that they don't have tails, or dog ears, or wet noses, or four paws, or fur, or…"

"Yes, Professor, I get it," said Harry.

"You know," said Remus, sitting back down with Joshua in his arms, "They're nothing like puppy dogs."

"They're still cute," said Harry. He picked up Skylar who had looked like she was just about to cry for attention and rocked her gently back and forth.

"I didn't say they weren't," said Remus who was now preparing Joshua's feed with one hand.

"But you said they weren't like puppy dogs," said Harry.

"That's because they're not," said Remus matter-of-factly.

"But puppy dogs _are_ cute, and if you're saying that they aren't like puppy dogs then that's sort of implying that they aren't cute because puppy dogs are cute."

"Harry," said Remus. "Shut up." Harry stuck his tongue out.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Dumbledore stopped by for a visit. Remus had (reluctantly) stepped out for a bite to eat and some fresh air leaving Harry alone babies, who had conveniently decided that they should have a competition to see who could cry the loudest (Leanna could cry for England.) Harry was only just getting Skylar to nod off when the door opened and Dumbledore popped his head in. 

"Having trouble?" he asked, eyes twinkling as he sat down.

"That's the second time today Leanna has started crying and set the other two off," said Harry.

"Leanna? You've named them?" asked Dumbledore happily.

"Yeah," said Harry, kicking himself mentally for not thinking.

"So?" said Dumbledore looking at Harry expectantly.

"So?" asked Harry, very well aware of what Dumbledore wanted to know.

"What have you called them?"

Harry looked up from the baby to Headmaster. There was something playing about the old mans face that Harry found slightly suspicious. Hermione was right, he thought, _Dumbledore knows_.

"I guessed the other day," said Dumbledore, obviously reading his thoughts. "I should have noticed sooner how close you and Remus had become, but I overlooked it. Am I right in guessing that he could be the father?"

"Yes Sir," Harry muttered, bowing his head and preparing for the onslaught. He was in for it now.

"I see," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "And am I right in assuming that you and Remus are now in an intimate relationship?"

Harry nodded. When Dumbledore didn't say anything after a while Harry looked up hopefully, yet nervously.

"You're not going to fire him are you? I'm not going to be expelled am I?"

Dumbledore looked mildly surprised. "My dear boy, why would I do that?"

"Because," said Harry, bewildered, "Because it's _illegal_. The age of consent in the wizarding world is 17 and I slept with a _teacher_ when I was _16_."

"True," said Dumbledore nodding, "But what the Ministry doesn't know won't do any harm."

"But," said Harry, surprised by Dumbledore's reaction, "But you're the _Headmaster_. He's a teacher, I'm a student."

"Yes, that is the case," he said. "But you're also _Remus Lupin_ and _Harry Potter_."

When Harry looked puzzled he continued. "I have never seen either of you this happy before," he explained. "After everything you have both been through I'd say it's about time you both found the happiness you both deserve. You make each other so cheerful; surely you have noticed the change in Remus? Even the wolf in him is happy with the way things are. Trust me when I say I do _not_ want to be the one who breaks this new found happiness you both seem to have found with each other apart."

"But…but shouldn't you be telling me that I should have someone my own age?"

"I would never do that," said Dumbledore a little shocked. "You may be 17, but mentally you are so much older. Everybody your own age hasn't been through the things you have. Not many of them would understand, therefore you couldn't possibly be happy with them."

"But what if it gets out?" asked Harry thinking of Malfoy. "Wouldn't you be in trouble for letting us be together?"

"That is a risk I am _more_ than willing to take," he said. "But I have to ask you something; what does Malfoy have to do with any of this?"

Harry cursed himself for letting his thoughts stray to him.

"Nothing," he muttered, but then he had a thought. What if Dumbledore already knew everything? He could have seen it in his mind after all. What if he was disappointed in Harry for not telling him sooner? Or for continuing to lie to him about certain things?

"Sir? Do you know who the others are? Have you seen it in my mind?"

"I never use Legimency when I can help it," he told him. "In conversations like these it just sort of happens. But I would never go into your mind purposefully unless it was absolutely necessary. I can, however, sense your feelings without even trying. You're worried. Care to tell me why? I might be able to help."

So he didn't know about Sirius, Malfoy, and Dean then. Harry sighed deeply. For some reason he felt that things would be a lot easier to deal with if he told Dumbledore the truth and he was glad that it was Dumbledore who had asked for Harry to tell him, not the other way around. He didn't think he had the courage to do it unless the old man asked. He knew it was a risk, but hadn't Dumbledore proven time and time again that he could be trusted? Praying for no interruptions, he took a deep breath. He was just going to tell him and get it over with as soon as possible.

"I slept with Sirius," he whispered. "Then Remus, then Malfoy, and then Dean. I'm pretty sure the babies aren't Deans. Obviously I don't want them to be Malfoy's. But what if they're Sirius'? I don't want to be the one who breaks their friendship apart. And what if Remus finds out that I slept with Sirius? He already knows about Malfoy and Dean. And that's another thing; Malfoy! He somehow knows about Sirius and Remus and he's threatened to tell everyone and I don't know what to do. I'm scared of losing Remus if he finds out about Sirius and I'm scared of breaking those two up, and if Malfoy says something then they'll know and they'll hate me."

Harry was that he sounded hysterical but it couldn't be helped. He had just given birth, he was allowed to get emotional; his hormones were flying all over the place after all – something that he _wouldn't _be missing once his body settled back to its normal self again.

"That's a lot of information to get at once," he said. He was quiet for a moment or two, probably thinking of what to say. "Ok, first things first. I can't do anything about Malfoy, but I'm sure he has enough sense to not tell anyone you and Remus are seeing each other and if he does then we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. Secondly," he continued, "I'm sure Remus and Sirius will always be friends. They've been through too much together to fall apart now and they are both mature enough to sort their problems out. Thirdly, if Remus finds out he will not leave you; he loves you too much to hurt you. And lastly," said Dumbledore, "I think you need to tell him."

"What?"

"Remus needs to know," he said kindly, but seriously. "You can't keep lying to him about it. Chances are one of them is the father and what then? It's going to become pretty obvious to them, especially if Sirius is the father and wants to be involved. And you and Remus being together is going to raise some questions sooner or later. And if none of them is the father, they're bound to talk to each other about what happened. Harry, it's going to come out one way or another. Yes, Remus is going to be angry at first but I'm sure if you two talk things through he'll get over it."

Harry went slowly over everything he had just said but found no gaps. He was right, of course. They would both find out about each other, and what then?

"What do I do?" stammered Harry. "Who do I tell first? When do I tell them?"

"That Harry," he said, "Is up to you."

Harry sat there, staring at the baby in his arms who was still awake but, thankfully, not crying. She was kicking her little legs slowly and balling her little hands into small fists. Not for the first time the sense of unreality washed over him like a tidal wave. He knew what lay in front of him, knew what he had to do. He knew what was coming and wanted desperately to avoid it. But he also knew that it was something that just had to happen and one way or another he would have to deal with it.

"Remus, good to see you."

Harry's head snapped back up and he saw that Remus was back with a cup of coffee. Harry hastily cleared his head of all thoughts of what he and Dumbledore had just been talking about and forced a convincing smile on his face.

"You to Albus," Remus smiled as he sat down in his armchair.

"Harry was just about to tell me what you have named your beautiful children," Dumbledore beamed. Remus choked on his drink at Dumbledore's use of 'your'.

"Don't worry my dear boy," said Dumbledore. "Harry has been kind enough to enlighten me about your relationship, and I must say I am very pleased for you both."

"You are?" asked Remus, obviously taken aback.

"Naturally," nodded Dumbledore. "So, Harry?" he turned to face him. "What are the children's names?"

* * *

Harry sat on his bed reading _The Evening Prophet_ for any news about Voldemort. He hadn't heard anything in a long time but he wasn't troubled over it right now. Quite a few articles had appeared in the _Prophet_ over the last few days, however, reporting that Harry had gone into labour a week early in the middle of his Potions class, that he had arrived at the hospital, that a few reporters had been thrown (literally) out of the waiting room by '_the 'innocent' Mr Sirius Black, The Chosen One's Godfather'_, that Harry had given birth on the evening of the 24th October, and that no one at the Hospital was shedding any light on the sex and name of the baby (obviously it hadn't been leaked that it was triplets yet), but did say that Harry was in a good condition. 

He sighed, folded up the newspaper, and placed it to one side. Now was not the time to be distracted; he had much more important things on his mind – like telling Remus the truth for instance.

Like it or not, Dumbledore was right. One way or another, Sirius and Remus were going to find out about each other; it was inevitable, just like Titanic hitting the iceberg, just like Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader – everyone _knew_ it was going to happen – these kinds of things followed a pattern; it was_ meant_ to happen, it was _going _to happen, and there would be consequences.

But how to tell Remus? He couldn't just drop it into conversation could he? _Oh, by the way Remus darling, I slept with your best friend and he could be the daddy of the children we're going to raise together. _

He supposed he could just…not tell him. But then it would still get out wouldn't it? Their relationship couldn't remain secret forever and the identity of the children's other parent would be public knowledge sooner or later, and then what? Leave it to Sirius to inform Remus of what had happened between them? Remus would hate him for it.

Maybe he could make a deal with Sirius. Maybe he could convince him not to tell him? But then Sirius might be angry with Remus for sleeping with Harry. After all, he was disappointed in himself for doing it.

The door clicked open and Harry didn't look up. He knew it was Remus coming through the door. He heard it close, with a slight snap, and watched Remus' feet approach the bed. When Remus sat down without saying anything, Harry looked up.

The first thing he registered was that Remus did _not _look happy. He gaze was fixed, somewhat determinedly, on the opposite wall. Judging by his hard features he was biting the inside of his cheek or lip to stop himself from saying anything. The golden eyes that had recently been filled with joy and happiness were now cold and full of hurt. Harry gulped.

"What's wrong?" he finally asked, hoping he didn't sound nervous or scared or even guilty.

Remus sniffed in sarcastic amusement, but didn't say anything.

"Remus, are you alright? Has something happened?"

"Listen to you," scoffed Remus and Harry flinched at the sharpness in his voice, "Asking all the questions when _I'm_ the one who needs the answers."

Harry didn't say anything to this; truthfully, he didn't know _what _to say to that. Obviously, thought Harry, something has happened to upset him and he's taking it out on me. But then, why was he being so _cold_ towards him? When it became apparent that Remus wasn't going to elaborate on his words, Harry decided to speak up again.

"If I've done something to offend you then I'm sor…"

"Offend me?" he snapped and for the first time since he had entered the room he looked at Harry who fought the urge to back away. "Offend me? If that's what you want to call sleeping with Sirius then yes, you have offended me!"

Harry was aware that he had gasped at this revelation and he hated himself for it. Not for the first time, he felt his world crashing in around him. _This is not happening_, Harry told himself, _this can't be happening_. But it was. He just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

Harry's mind immediately jumped to Malfoy. It was him, he had told Remus. He certainly had the motive and he would have had the opportunity as well; Remus had been at Hogwarts this afternoon, marking some work. He could have told him then. Oh, he was going to murder him!

"How…when…"

"I ran into him at Hogwarts," said Remus angrily. "He said he needed to talk to me. Said he'd done something stupid and needed a friends support."

"Friends support?" he asked, and then it clicked. "Sirius? _Sirius_ told you?"

Why couldn't Voldemort just walk through the door and blow him up on the spot? He _really_ didn't want to listen to this. He couldn't bear to see Remus like this.

"Yes, Sirius told me! He told me everything! _He_ told me and you didn't!"

"I was going to tell you Remus," he cried. "I was going to tell you tonight."

"Well I think you left it a _bit_ too late Harry!" he snapped at him. He pushed himself to his feet and walked across the room, fuming. He turned so he could see Harry and there was fire in his eyes.

"My best friend," he said as if trying to make it sink in. "My _best friend_ could be the father of your children, _our _children. You slept with my best friend!"

"It's not like I cheated on you or anything," Harry shouted. "It happened before you!"

"Yeah," he shouted back fiercely, "So I heard! You lost your fucking virginity to him; to your Godfather!"

"Oh, don't be so hypocritical!" Harry shouted, regretting it already but he wasn't able to stop himself. "You slept with an under aged student!"

"HOW DARE YOU?" he yelled. "How dare you turn this around on me!"

"Then don't scream at me for sleeping with my Godfather!" Harry yelled back.

"Oh, this isn't about him being your bloody Godfather anymore Potter," he growled, venom flooding through every word. "This is about you sleeping with my best friend and not telling me!"

"I've already said I was going to tell you!" Harry shouted angrily. "Besides, I don't see how this is any different from me sleeping with Malfoy or Dean?"

"Because I lived with Sirius for 7 years!" he yelled, and for the first time since he had known him, Harry was scared of him; scared of the fact that he was a werewolf and all too aware of the fact that he had angered him.

"We slept in the same room, we ate at the same table, we learnt in the same classes. We grew up together! We even slept together for crying out loud! He was your first and he was my first as well! He's my _best friend_!"

"I'm sorry ok?" he cried. "I never meant to hurt you."

"Well congratulations Harry, you failed," he said dramatically. "How would you feel if you finally met someone who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with? Who you were madly in love with? You think you have the prefect person to share everything with, then you find out that they slept with your best friend first. It's not a good feeling Harry, believe me."

"We can get over this," sniffed Harry desperately. "We can work something out." But Remus didn't seem to hear him, or if he did he didn't pay any attention.

"You sleep with him and then you come to me? What the hell are you trying to achieve Harry? We're in a fucking relationship, bringing up these children together! Do you really think I want to be bringing up Sirius' children? Do you think I want to live with a constant reminder that my best friend got you pregnant?"

"You said it didn't matter whose they were!" he cried, tears splashing down his pain stricken face.

"Well it bloody well does now!" he screamed. "I will _not_ raise Sirius' children!"

"They might not be his," said Harry, praying that they weren't.

"It doesn't matter either way," he muttered hatefully. Harry's heart stopped. You could almost feel the tension in the room; the hatred boiling between them. The painful silence was shattered by the sounds of three crying babies who had obviously been woken up by all the noise, but Harry ignored them.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked quietly.

"What do you think I mean?" And with that, Remus stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut, leaving a very shaken, very hurt, and a very hysterical Harry behind.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you for reviewing! Please feel free to review again!

**In the Next Chapter:** The father is revealed! (finally)

* * *

**bookworm51485:** lol, it was supposed to be his, well, wee, but I suppose it does look like that doesn't it? lol. Yeah, I don't know much about DNA tests and I'd done so mcuh research about the pregnancy I couldn't bring myself to do more. Thank you for pointing it out!

**Shadow Vampiress:** I know. You said 'Nicole' was your middle name when I asked for name suggestions and it just seemed to fit. :-) Hey, my first names Katie as well! lol, but no offence taken.


	17. And the Father is

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 17: And the Father is…

Two hours after Remus had left, Harry was to be found sitting in the empty armchair, staring aimlessly at the wall whilst slowly rocking back and forth with Skylar in his arms. Only two days old and Harry had already noticed personalities developing in the babies. Well, not so much as personalities; they were more like little traits, characteristics.

Leanna was always the one that started to cry first which almost always resulted in her waking up her brother and sister. She was the one who cried the loudest and Harry swore she did it on purpose.

Joshua, the eldest, hardly ever cried. The only times he cried was when Leanna woke him up and when that happened he was always the one to go to sleep again first.

Skylar, the youngest, however, cried the longest. She wouldn't even start to calm down until the other two were asleep and then, and _only _then, would she stop her wailing and start to sob quite pathetically (but in a cute way) into Harry's arms. Harry assumed she just wanted the most hugs.

He smiled as she gave another little sniff and cuddled into him. Two days ago he had almost lost her, but she had come back to him. Now he had lost Remus. Maybe he would come back as well?

The Healers had checked, double-checked, and re-double-checked Harry and the babies over and when they had announced that they were completely satisfied, Harry had been informed that he could go back to Hogwarts tomorrow.

He was glad that he had only had to stay in Hospital for 2 days and not longer, but he found himself dreading going back. He knew he wouldn't be going to classes just yet, but he couldn't avoid everyone for forever. But maybe he would get a chance to speak to Remus? Hopefully he would have had time to cool down by then.

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door and Harry looked up in time to see Healer Neeson poke her head around the door.

"Is Remus here?" she asked after looking around the room.

"No," Harry told her quietly. "He had to get back to Hogwarts to prepare for lessons tomorrow. Why? Do you need him for something?" He wasn't about to tell her the real reason he had left as she would no doubt start making a fuss about Harry's 'stress levels' again (which Harry thought was stupid since he was now a single parent of triplets and he was bound to get stressed, but whatever.)

"No," she said, coming in and closing the door behind her. "It's you I need to see but I wanted to make sure you were on your own. I have the test results."

Harry's stomach fluttered horribly. He had forgotten about those, what with everything else playing on his mind. He tried to look at the Healer but found he was too nervous to do so, so instead he kept his eyes fixed on his daughter. Here it was; the moment of truth. The question he had asked himself for 9 months was about to be answered. But now that it was time to find out he wasn't all that sure he was ready to hear it.

"Now," she asked kindly, "Do you want me to read it out to you or do you want to look for yourself?"

"I…I want to read it myself," he said, wondering at the same time if he would actually be able to make himself look at the name.

"Alright," she said. "At the bottom of the page is a list in which we did the order of the testing. The name with the word 'positive' next to it is the father, ok?"

Harry nodded and she passed him the parchment. As soon as his fingers touched it his heart leapt uncomfortably.

He was now alone in the room with nothing but the babies and the name of their other father. His mind was racing with all the possible scenario's this could bring about. It all felt unreal again. A small part of his future - a large part of the triplets future - was about to be decided just by looking at a name that had been written down. His heart was beating painfully fast and his hands were shaking. He was scared, he had to admit it. He was _really_ scared of seeing this name. But he had to do this and if he put it off any longer he would never do it.

He took a deep breath and flipped open the folded parchment. His eyes scanned over all the numbers and figures to the bottom of the page and they came to rest on the names that had been neatly written there in black ink. Right on cue, his eyes filled with tears.

* * *

"Oh, they are _so _adorable!" 

"Triplets?"

"Look at the ickle babies! I could just eat them up."

"Is anybody else seeing three?"

"What have you named them Harry?"

"Triplets? Three? Hello?"

"Can I hold one Harry?"

Harry had just gotten back from the Hospital and had walked into his new room to be greeted by half of Gryffindor. Just like Ron and Hermione had said, the room had been decorated with balloons and banners which now read _'Congratulations! It's Triplets!'_ and there was an assortment of balloons floating around, some reading _'It's a Girl'_ and some reading _'It's a Boy!'_

"I think you owe me 20 galleons Seamus," smiled Ron, holding out his hand. "Two girls and a boy."

"You cheated," he said, "You already knew."

"I did not!" said Ron indignantly.

Harry smiled and made his way over to the sofa and deposited a basket on the floor which held Skylar. Hermione and Ron followed him with the other two.

"I really wanted to come and visit," said Ginny, kneeling on the floor to look in the baskets, "But Mcgonagall wouldn't let us; she said something about 'letting too many students wander off.' Oh, look at their little fingers!"

"So?" asked Seamus, joining the small crowd that was cooing over the babies. "What have you called them?"

Harry sighed before sitting up straight and leaning over to see his babies. Two of them were awake and were looking up at the many faces with the cutest expressions of bewilderment.

"This one is Joshua," he said, indicating the baby that was wrapped up in blue. "He's the oldest. This one here," he pointed to the one in yellow, "Is Leanna; she's the loudest. And this little one here is Skylar," he pointed at the one wrapped in pink. "She's the youngest."

"They're so cute," squeaked Colin, reaching into his bag for his camera but Ginny had the sense to stop him before returning her attention back to the new arrivals.

"I want one," moaned Hermione and Harry tried hard not to laugh at the look on Ron's face when he heard her say that.

Conversation broke out between the gossiping students and Harry lay back on the sofa, delighting in the feel of being back at home. He knew that there would be an article in tomorrow's paper about him having triplets (it was sure to get leaked) but he found that he didn't care too much about it. He had nothing to be ashamed of; he had three beautiful children and that was all that mattered.

Someone broke out the drinks and for one moment Harry was anxious; he didn't want alcohol around his three day old children! Something of this must have shown on his face because Hermione leant over and smiled.

"It's just juice, don't worry," she said. "You really think I'd let them drink alcohol around them? I didn't even want to let them in here in the first place but they all insisted. I hope you're not too angry about that."

"Nah, it's fine Hermione," he said. "I haven't seen this many people all weekend. It makes a change."

He looked up at the many students and saw Dean standing close by with a relieved look on his face. When he noticed Harry looking at him, he leaned over on the pretence of congratulating Harry.

"They're not mine are they?" he said, looking down at the babies who were still looking around at the many faces. "I can tell. They'd be darker if they were mine wouldn't they?"

"Yeah, they're not yours," Harry told him and he felt a horrible pang as he thought about who their real father was.

"I have to say," said Dean with a smile, "It_ is_ a relief. I didn't fancy…well, you know."

"I know," said Harry, "Yeah, its cool. Just forget about it all, ok?"

"Thanks mate," and with another smile at Harry he went over and joined Ginny.

Finally, Hermione took it upon herself to shoo everyone out so Harry could have some much deserved rest. She tided up the room in one swift wave of her wand and then collapsed onto the sofa next to Harry as if she too had had a trying weekend.

"It's good to have you back Harry," she smiled. "It feels like you've been gone for an eternity."

Harry laughed softly. "It's good to be back," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a nice, relaxing, well-earned, bubble bath. You don't mind keeping on eye on them do you?"

"Of course not," she smiled and her eyes lit up. "You go and relax; don't worry about the triplets, they're in good hands."

* * *

"Just as I suspected," said Hermione, dropping a copy of _The Daily Prophet _onto the coffee table in front of Harry. "Someone in Gryffindor has talked." 

As Harry had predicted, an article had indeed appeared in the paper the next day. Although they had no picture to go with it, the story about Harry and the triplets had made front page news. Harry was immensely glad that he hadn't told anyone the babies' middle names. The only people who knew about them were people Harry trusted not to talk.

"The whole school is talking about it," said Ron, throwing himself down into an armchair and helping himself to a piece of chocolate cake. "Everywhere you go it's all people seem to want to talk about. Merlin knows how many people have come up to us and asked about the father."

"And what did you say?" asked Harry unsurprised by this news.

"That it wasn't our place to say," Hermione told him. "'It's Harry's business and it's up to him to tell people if and when he chooses.'"

"And speaking of which," said Ron slowly, "Who _is_ the father? Surely you know by now."

"No offence guys," he said, "But I think it's best if I tell _him_ about it first."

"That's what I thought you'd say," smiled Hermione. "Well, whoever he is, good luck with telling him. I hope everything goes alright."

"Thanks Hermione," he said. He really didn't feel like talking about the father so he cast around for a change of subject.

"I need a nanny," he told them matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" said Ron, looking around at him.

"You know? A nanny. A babysitter. I need someone to look after the children when I go back to school which, by the way, I want to do next week."

"Have you got any ideas how you're going to find someone?" asked Hermione.

"I was thinking of going to one of them childminder agencies and conducting some interviews," said Harry and as soon as he said it he knew Hermione disapproved.

"I really don't think that's such a good idea," she said, confirming Harry's belief. "Any one of them could be working for Voldemort or the Ministry, and you know what the Ministry's like; they'll have the person spy on you, keep tabs on you, get inside information on you."

"But they're professionals," said Ron. "Surely they'll have _some_ sort of morals. Besides, it's what they enjoy doing isn't it; looking after babies?"

"You can never be too careful Ron," she said darkly. "You always hear about childminders bringing harm to the baby they were supposed to be looking after; there's been loads of cases of that happening."

"I've never heard that," said Ron.

"Well, we hear it all the time in the muggle world," Hermione told him.

"But this is the _wizarding world_ Hermione," he said as if stating the obvious. "Things are different. Why do you think we haven't heard of cases like that, eh?"

"Because the witch or wizard in question uses _magic_ to make sure no one hears about it," said Hermione. "Harry, I _really_ don't think that turning to the public for a nanny is a good idea."

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "But what do I do then?"

"You could ask a friend," she suggested. "I'm sure they'd be more then happy to help."

"All of my friends are at school," he said.

"What about the Order then? It's their job to help, and I'm sure Dumbledore would have them alternate things around to fit it in."

"I can't keep running to Dumbledore for help, Hermione," he said. "I'm grateful for everything he's already done for me; I can't ask for more, especially something that messes with Order business."

"But they have a duty to protect you," she pointed out.

"But not a duty to baby sit," he said.

"Well have you got any better ideas?"

"I'm sure I'll think of someone," he muttered. "It can't be that hard, can it?"

* * *

Harry spent the next two days cooped up in his private rooms and not once did he set foot outside the door. He wanted more than anything to be able to get back to normal life – well, as normal as his life had ever been – but he found himself worrying about all the looks he was going to receive from the other houses. Gryffindor house had really come together for Harry. They made sure to tell him what everyone was saying so he could be prepared when he was ready to get back into school life, and they squashed any nasty rumours that were floating around. They all promised that when Harry ventured out into the castle again, they would all be ready to leap to his aid whenever he needed it and Harry couldn't be more grateful. 

Hermione never failed to bring him the homework he had asked for and Harry found that he quite enjoyed sitting around in front of the fire in the evenings completing the work. He supposed it was because he was itching to get back to school life and it made a change from looking after the babies. He didn't admit this to anyone of course.

Harry was sitting in front of the fire one night, finishing off his Defence homework. He had just spent almost an hour trying to get Skylar to go to sleep after her feed and he was shattered. All he wanted to do was go to bed.

Hermione was sat at the table putting the finishing touches to her Arithmancy essay, and Ron was leaning against the sofa, rocking Joshua in his arms. Both of them had been a huge help over the past few days and Harry had a feeling that if it hadn't been for them, he would have gone insane. Parent-hood was _a lot_ of hard work.

"He's got gorgeous eyes, this one," Ron said quietly, looking at the baby in his arms. "I never usually notice people's eyes but you can't miss these. I swear they look familiar though."

"He's got _Harry's_ eyes," Hermione pointed out with a smile. Ron blushed.

"Thank you, Ron, for that lovely compliment," he grinned and Hermione laughed.

"Skylar has got those eyes as well," she said. "I noticed earlier. But Leanna's are a shade of brown."

He could tell that they wanted to talk about the father again but, for Harry's sake, they held back. Harry finished his homework and closed his book.

"Here," he said, handing it over to Hermione. "Could you give that to Professor Lupin for me?"

"Sure," she said and she placed the parchment in her folder with her work. "Harry, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"Have you and Remus fallen out?" she said, looking over at him carefully.

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Because neither of you has asked how the other one is," she said simply. "I would have thought he'd come and visit you."

"We…kind of had an argument, yeah," he said, picking absently at the carpet.

"About what?" she asked.

"Just some stuff," he muttered. "Can we change the subject?"

"Sure," she said. "So, when are you going to tell Malfoy's he's not the father?"

Harry's head snapped up. For one horrible second he thought she had seen the note that the Healer had given him at the Hospital with the name of the father on it. He quickly reminded himself that it was impossible as it had been in his pocket ever since.

"How do you know he's not?" he asked her, slightly suspiciously.

"Because if he was you would have been in a right mess," she said. Which was true, he told himself.

"I dunno," he muttered. "I don't really want to see him." He looked up at them both hopefully. "Will you guys do it for me?"

"What?" Ron looked around at him.

"Please," he begged, "I don't feel up to telling him the 'good news'. He'll just get all 'Malfoy' again and I don't want to deal with him just yet."

"What makes you think we do?" Ron asked, but Hermione butted in.

"Of course we will Harry," she said.

"We will?"

"Yes, Ron, we will," she said to him, "As long as Harry makes up with Remus."

"That's a threat," said Harry, looking over at her at the table.

"It's an _encouragement_," she said. "If you want us to tell Malfoy then you have to at least _try_ to make it up to Remus."

"How do you know that it isn't _Remus_ who should be making it up to _me_?" he asked smartly.

"Because I know you," she said, "It's more than likely that you've gone and done something stupid and hurt Remus' feelings in the process."

Harry didn't know if he should feel insulted or not.

* * *

Hermione stopped by at lunch time the next day to tell Harry that she and Ron had spoken to Malfoy. By the sound of it, he hadn't believed that he wasn't the father and had demanded proof, but Hermione had been stern with him and in the end he had had no choice but to leave it or else risk causing a scene. She advised Harry to have a little talk with him when he was ready, but apart from that, the deed was done. Now Harry was left with just over 24 hours to talk to Remus. 

Harry woke up on Friday morning with a plan half formed in his head. He wasn't entirely sure if it would work, but he had to try. All he had to do was somehow get Remus here alone. Remus obviously loved the children as his own, so spending a couple of hours with them might soften him up, leaving Harry free to talk to him. He might even take some of the Felix Felicis that Remus had given him for his birthday.

As always, Ron and Hermione stopped by at lunch time to keep him company and he took that time to explain his plan to them. If this was to succeed however, he would once again need their help. He needed them to somehow get Remus to come to Harry's room around 8 o'clock this evening and to make sure he at least held one of the babies to get him in a better mood than he might have been previous to that. With their assurances, Ron and Hermione left for their next lesson, Charms, and then Potions.

Harry spent the rest of his afternoon seeing to the many needs of the babies. This time last week he had been going into labour, and now here he was, back at Hogwarts with three beautiful children.

He held Skylar in his arms gently and she looked up at him knowingly with big, green eyes. He smiled softly down at her.

"I have to do this," he said to her as if she had questioned him. "If I don't then daddy will never have Remus back. I have to use the potion if I want this to work."

But as time ticked by, Harry wasn't so sure if he should drink the Felix potion or not. God knows he wanted Remus back with him, but could love _really_ be decided by a lucky potion? Love was such a natural and complex thing after all, something that no one should ever mess with. Who was he to influence both their lives with a potion? Sure, he would use it in life or death circumstances, but this was _love_. This was something much more powerful. Look at what had happened to Voldemort's mother; she had influenced her love life with a potion and look how that had ended up. Besides, he would probably be in need of it for something else.

So no potion then, Harry decided. He would have to do this on his own.

It had just gone 7:30pm and Harry was pacing up and down anxiously. School had finished over three hours ago and he hadn't heard anything from Ron or Hermione. They could have just been held up at the Halloween feast, but what if something had happened? Maybe Remus had hexed them both for interfering? Even in his head that sounded completely ridiculous but it didn't stop him from looking down at his watch to make sure that they were safe.

He had just had enough time to register that the hands labelled 'Ron' and 'Hermione' were pointed at 'Hogwarts/Safe' when they spun to 'With You' and Harry heard his door open.

"He's not coming," said Hermione sadly. "We tried _three times_ to get him to come but he won't budge."

"What did you do to him?" asked Ron in slight awe. "It must have been pretty big for him to completely hate you." Harry ignored him.

"Well that's it, isn't it," he said hopelessly, throwing himself onto the sofa. "It's been almost a week since we argued and he_ still_ doesn't want to talk. And Sirius hasn't even contacted me so he's probably pissed as well; Remus no doubt told him about us."

"What's Sirius got to do with anything?" asked Ron looking confused, but before Harry could answer, Hermione spoke up.

"That's what you argued about isn't it?" she asked, although she knew she was right. "Remus found out about Sirius."

"What?" asked Ron, shocked.

"Sirius _told_ Remus about it," said Harry bitterly. "Obviously he didn't know about Remus but judging from the fact that he hasn't talked to me since then he probably knows now."

Harry stared at the flickering flames of the fire. Remus wasn't coming. The man hated him so much that he wasn't even going to give him another chance. Well, thought Harry, if he won't come to me, then I'll just have to go to him, won't I?

He stood up so abruptly that he startled Ron and Hermione, but he didn't have time to talk. If he stopped to explain then he would lose his nerve. He just needed to know one thing.

"Where's Remus?" he asked, marching over to the door.

"He's at the Halloween feast," said Ron quickly, "But it's full of students and teachers."

"I don't care," said Harry and he flung open the door and found himself in the common room for the first time in a week. It was empty apart from some of the older students who had grown tired of the feast. They looked up, shocked to see him in such a mood; probably just shocked to actually _see_ him.

"But what are you…"

"Just stay here," Harry told them both as they followed him across the room.

"But Harry, your stress lev…"

"Screw my stress levels," he said loudly as he reached the portrait hole. "You just stay here."

"But…"

"Stay here and look after the triplets," he ordered. And before they could say anything he had climbed out into the corridor.

Thankfully, the halls were blissfully empty, ghosts and students alike preferring to spend Halloween at the infamous Hogwarts feast. As Harry sped down the deserted corridors, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. He couldn't remember the last time the corridors had been this quiet and this empty. There was always a ghost lurking somewhere or other, but tonight the place was very much uninhabited. There was also something about the fact that it was Halloween that made him uneasy. Exactly 16 years ago his parents had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. Plus, he had been meant to give birth on Halloween but they had been a week early. Not that this had anything to do with the empty corridors…there was just something foreboding about Halloween.

He looked around the corridor and sped up, watching his shadow following him on the walls as he went. He reached the marble staircase and his ears were greeted by a great deal of noise; students talking and laughing with each other, the clatter of knives and forks on plates. The sound seemed almost alien to him as he hadn't heard the collective noise of Hogwarts for a while now. He reached the bottom of the staircase, his footfalls drowned out by the laughter and the chatter of those beyond the wooden doors that stood open, and he resisted the temptation to just stop for a moment. He knew that if he allowed himself a moment to collect himself then his mind would catch up with his body and he would be tempted to turn back. If he stopped, he wouldn't do this.

Walking swiftly over to the double doors he allowed himself a deep breath before he rounded the corner and went through the doors into the Great Hall.

Thankfully, most of the students were too busy to notice him but he knew it was only a matter of time before they did. He kept his eyes forwards and made his way down the middle of the hall towards the teachers table at the bottom.

By the time he had reached half way, however, students had started to notice him and his mind, which didn't want to be here in the first place, had to do some quick thinking. If he walked straight up to Remus it might look a tad too suspicious and would get the gossips talking again.

To Harry's immense relief, the students were still talking loudly amongst themselves although more students were now sneaking glances at him. The Gryffindor's looked pretty shocked to see him, but happy all the same, and they came to his rescue by causing a slight stir which involved blowing up some of the pumpkin pie and grabbing everyone's attention. As laughter erupted, Harry walked up to Dumbledore who was smiling down at him, as were most of the teachers (barring Snape, who just looked amused, and Remus, who looked apprehensive).

"Harry, my dear boy, is everything ok? I didn't expect to see you down here tonight."

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Harry. "I was just wondering if I could borrow Professor Lupin for a while? I need help with my Defence homework and I thought I might as well get it done with before the babies start crying again."

Harry knew perfectly well that Dumbledore wouldn't believe this for a second but it served as the ideal alibi in case any students or teachers were listening in.

"Of course Harry, of course," he smiled with a twinkle in his eye. He leaned around Professors Mcgonagall and Snape and looked at Remus.

"Remus, dear boy, go with Harry will you," he said, "He requires your assistance with some work."

Remus looked from Dumbledore and stared at Harry unbelievingly. Harry just stared right back, glad something was finally going his way. He knew that once they were out of ear shot Remus was going to yell at him but he found that it was worth it.

"Can't it wait?" he asked Dumbledore, although his eyes stayed fixed on Harry.

"I'm afraid not," smiled Dumbledore. "Best go with him now before those delightful children of his wake up."

Reluctantly, Remus pushed his chair back and stood up, dropping his napkin on top of his half empty plate. He came around the table and without looking at Harry swept out of the hall. Harry smiled at Dumbledore.

"Thanks Professor," he said and without waiting for an answer he followed Remus. They both walked in silence down the deserted hall ways and towards Remus' rooms, Harry hurrying slightly to keep up. When they finally reached them, Remus slammed the door shut behind Harry before turning on him.

"What the hell are you playing at Potter?" he snapped.

"What am _I_ playing at?" he said, glaring at the man in front of him, "You're the one who refuses to talk to me!"

"Because we have _nothing_ to talk about," he said sharply.

"How about _us_ for a start?" snapped Harry. "Don't you care what happens to us?"

"There is no '_us'_ anymore," he said and he turned his back on Harry.

"How can you say that?" Harry asked incredulously. "Just last week you said you would always love me."

"Last week I didn't know you'd fucked Sirius," he retorted.

"Oh, so this is still about Sirius is it?" asked Harry angrily. "Don't you love me enough to just look passed that?"

"I love you enough to die for you!" he shouted, turning back to look at Harry. "I just don't want to be with you knowing that you've also been with him."

Harry was slightly taken aback by this. He knew, had just knew, that Remus still loved him, but he hadn't been prepared for him to admit it in his anger.

"He's your best friend," said Harry trying to reason with him. "Can't you two work something out? You guys are stronger than this."

"If we'd been stronger we would never have slept with you," he said acidly and Harry was stung.

"So…so you regret it?" he sobbed. "_You_ regret it?"

"I didn't say that," sighed Remus.

"But it's what you fucking meant!" he yelled. He couldn't believe Remus had just said that. If Sirius regretted it then yeah, fair enough. But Remus as well? "Is my life just one, huge, fucking mistake?"

"You think _you've_ had a bad life?" scoffed Remus and Harry literally gasped with disbelief at these words. Of course Harry had had a bad life! He was _Harry Potter_!

"I had nothing when growing up," shouted Remus. "My family lived in a small apartment and we couldn't even afford to eat everyday, let alone have personal possessions! By some miracle if I actually managed to own something, even something as small as a pencil, by brothers would take it from me! I've been a bloody werewolf since I was 8 years old and even my family was scared of me. They locked me in some cabin in the middle of the woods and left me there alone all day and night! And then I came to Hogwarts and things got better. I had _friends_; I actually had a few boyfriends until Sirius came along and stole them!"

"Sirius…?"

"And then I finished at Hogwarts and had to move in with the _almighty_ Sirius because I couldn't even afford a set of robes let alone a house! And then all of a sudden my life falls apart; Lily and James are murdered, Peter is supposedly killed, and Sirius is arrested for it all! Do you have _any idea_ what that feels like? Lily and James were some of the very few people that I ever let myself grow close to and they were taken away from me!"

"They were my parents!" Harry shouted. "Of course I know!"

"You never knew them!" Remus yelled. "How can you say you miss them when you never even knew them? You never had them!"

These words were like a brutal slap across the face. They hit Harry hard and he felt himself recoil slightly. Remus might as well have punched him for all he felt.

"How dare you?" he whispered in shock and there was hurt in every syllable. "How dare you say that!"

"I'm sorry," said Remus and Harry could tell he truly meant it. "I'm so sorry Harry. I shouldn't have said that."

"Damn right you shouldn't have!" he yelled and he felt the familiar tears spill down his face. He couldn't believe Remus had said that.

"I didn't mean it," sobbed Remus. "I wasn't thinking. I'm really sorry."

"If you were sorry you wouldn't have said it," Harry shouted. "You obviously meant it enough to say it!"

"No," Remus cried. "No, I really didn't mean it!"

"Well, you know what?" said Harry coldly. "You can add one more thing to the list of reasons why your life is worse than mine. Sirius is the father."

He watched the tears sliding down Remus' face and felt a grim satisfaction in what he had done. All he wanted to do was hurt Remus the way he had hurt him and he didn't care how he did it.

"No," said Remus despairingly, shaking his head. "No, he…he can't be…he just can't…"

"Believe it Remus. Sirius Black is the father of my children and there's not a thing you can do about it. Happy Halloween."

And he turned on his foot and stormed out of the room, slamming the door with such force that the windows rattled in their frames.

But before Harry had closed the door, something white had fallen out of his pocket and had floated to the ground. Remus, who was shaking with tears, had slid down his desk and onto the floor. He extended a hand and picked it up.

He unfolded it and saw loads of numbers and figures, calculating something or other. His eyes were drawn to the bottom of the page where some words had been handwritten:

_Draco Malfoy – negative_

_Dean Thomas – negative_

_Sirius Black – negative_

_Remus Lupin – positive_

Remus looked over the page again for some sign of what it was. He looked again at the calculations and, at the top of the page, he saw the words 'DNA'. He turned the paper over and saw the St Mungo's crest. He looked back at his name.

"I'm the father."

* * *

**A/N: **I know some of you aren't going to be happy with Remus beign the father but after careful consideration it worked out best. I did have a few chapters written where Sirius was actually the father but I thought the Remus one's were best so I deleted the Sirius ones - which I regrt know coz I wanted to re-read them to see if I could get any ideas from them but oh well! 

This chapter did my head in when I was writting in. I couldn't think of how to word anything at all so I left it and came back to it yesterday to see how I could try and improve things but I wasn't able to do much on it so sorry if the wording of this chapter sucks. Most of you know I've written up to chapter 21 already but chapter 22 seems to have hit a dead end in terms of wording it correctly so if it takes me longer than the usual one update a weeks its coz I'm struggling with later chapters. I don't want to post everything I have so far only to make you wait liek a month for the next so I want to get as much written as possible if that makes sense. But don't worry, the next update soon be in a week again. I wouldn't leave you all hanging with this ending.

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I loved all your reactions to the last chapter! I'm sorry they had to agrue like that but things will eventually get better. It is RLHP after all and I would hate for them to hate each other forever. 

lol, so it turns out that two of my lovely reviewers were also born on 24th October like the triplets. lol, it's a small world. Happy Birthday for then!

Thank you all so much for all the lovely comments in your reviews! You guys are the best!

Wow. That was one long Authors Note. Sorry about that, lol.


	18. It's a Werewolf Thing

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 18: It's a Werewolf Thing 

For the whole of the weekend Harry locked himself in his rooms and refused to come out; he didn't even let Ron and Hermione in. He ate alone, took care of the babies alone, and wallowed in self pity alone. The Gryffindor's had been knocking on his door constantly and his friends were begging him to let them in; even Remus came up three times a day to try and talk to Harry - (Harry presumed that Remus must have had a change of heart). But Harry remained just as stubborn as ever. As long as he had the triplets, he didn't need anyone else. He could do fine without them all.

Hermione, Remus, and Mcgonagall had all threatened to use magic to force their way in and had actually tried but it was no use. Harry had placed quite a few advanced locking charms on the door (as well as pushing the sofa behind it) and no one but a powerful wizard was going to get through.

But as Harry sat back in the armchair, listening to the feeble attempts of his peers at the door, he had to congratulate himself. He hadn't thought he would be able to pull off such powerful magic but he had been so hurt by what had happened with Remus that his power had had something much like a power surge again and this had given him the magic he needed to perform the spells. He was actually kind of worried that he might not be able to undo the spells and get out but had decided he would cross that bridge when the time came.

He had a strong feeling that Dumbledore would be able to break through the barriers no problem, but was giving Harry time to sort his thoughts and feelings out. It wouldn't do any good to just force Harry out after all, and for this Harry was grateful.

Harry pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around his knees. Being alone wasn't exactly doing him any good; with no one to talk to, with nothing to distract him, all his mind was able to do was replay the words Remus had yelled again and again, driving Harry mad. Every time he heard them he had the urge to just blow something up and scream. And it didn't help, either, that Remus himself was outside the door pleading for Harry to let him in. Remus had had his chance to make up with Harry but had blown it so why should he let him in?

Tears trickled down his cheeks as he stared at the crackling fire. Last week he had thought he had everything he could want; supportive friends, three wonderful new born babies, and a lover – someone to share everything with, someone who would be there for him through thick and thin. But now it was gone. He didn't want to talk to his friends, the babies were driving him crazy with there constant screaming and need for attention, and he would never have Remus by his side again.

He looked over at the door as the knocking got louder and Hermione's voice rang out. She seemed to be losing patience with him again. Harry turned his gaze back to the fire and a small scream escaped him.

"Sirius?"

The flames had just turned emerald green and a figure had come spinning out of them. Sirius straightened up, brushing ash from his robes and stepped forwards.

"You forgot to block the fireplace," he said casually as his eyes travelled over the sofa which stood firmly behind the door. He waved his wand and the sofa zoomed back into place.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked sharply. "In case you haven't noticed, I want to be _alone_ – hence, the door."

"I know," he said, seating himself on the sofa. "Hermione told me you had locked yourself in and were refusing to come out."

"Exactly," said Harry. "So that doesn't mean you can just come barging in here through my fireplace."

"A fireplace you forgot to _block_," Sirius pointed out again and Harry glared at him.

"What do you want?" he asked shortly, folding his arms and looking away.

"Just to talk," he said, "That's all."

"I don't see what there is for us to talk about," said Harry, "So if you'd just be on your way, I can get back to…"

"Oh, there's_ plenty_ to talk about," Sirius cut across him.

"If you're here to have a go at me and tell me how inappropriate it was for me to sleep with Remus then you're wasting your breath!"

"In fact," said Sirius, "I was going to say I don't have a problem with you and Remus being together."

This caught Harry's attention and he turned back to look at him slowly. Sirius looked back at him as though they had just been discussing something as normal as the weather.

"How can you not have a problem with it?" asked Harry. "He's my teacher, he's your best friend, and he got me pregnant when I was 16. Most people would think that _is_ cause to have a problem."

"But I'm not 'most people'," said Sirius simply. "I'm _Sirius Black_."

Quite suddenly, Harry burst into tears.

"Oh, Harry," said Sirius, obviously shocked by this sudden outburst. He got up and squeezed into the armchair with Harry, who wriggled about so he was sat on Sirius's knee and embraced him in a tight, comforting hug. "It's ok, I'm here for you."

"I've messed up big time," he sobbed into his shoulder. "He's hates me. He wants nothing to do with me anymore."

"He's the father, right?" he asked. Harry nodded.

"But he doesn't know he is," Harry sniffed. "I told him it was you."

"You told him_ I_ was…why?"

"Because he was mad," Harry explained. "And he was saying all this stuff about why he's had such a _crappy life_ and he said that I had no right to be upset about my mum and dad and…"

"What?" said Sirius angrily. "He actually said that?"

"Words to that effect," said Harry, wiping his eyes. "He said I had never known them so I shouldn't miss them."

"That son of a bitch!"

"He apologised for it," Harry told him, "But by that time all I wanted to do was hurt him so I told him you were the father."

"What did he say?" asked Sirius, trying to keep his voice level. Harry shrugged.

"I walked out and I haven't seen him since. He's been trying to get me out of my room though; he wants to talk."

"I can't believe he would say something like that," said Sirius shaking his head. He ran a comforting hand in circles on Harry's back slowly and Harry wiped at his eyes again.

"Did you two fall out because of…me?" asked Sirius awkwardly after a few moments.

Harry shook his head. "We fell out because of _Remus,_" he said. "He's just too stubborn and too jealous to listen." And then he added, "And me. It was my fault for not telling him sooner, but I apologised for that! He's just being a big stupid head."

"I shouldn't have told him about us," muttered Sirius. "I didn't think he would take it this way."

"You didn't know we were together," said Harry. "It's not your fault at all. You needed to talk about it and, naturally, you turned to your best friend."

"I didn't think my best friend was such a dick." Silence fell in the room. All that could be heard was the crackling of the flames; the knocking on the door had stopped, his friends having given up hope of getting him to open the door.

"Were you and Remus in love?" Sirius asked after a while, looking down at Harry who had now dried his eyes.

"Yes," he said quietly. "Still are."

"Well, can't you work something out then?"

"You _really_ want us to be together?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"To be honest," he sighed, "I'd prefer it if you weren't. It's like you said before; he's your teacher and he's 20 years older than you…I really doubt Lily and James would be jumping for joy…but you were _happy_. You both were, there's no denying that, and God knows you've both been through _more_ than your fair share of hardship; you guys deserve a chance to be happy. I guess I'll just have to learn to deal with it."

"You're the best Godfather anyone could possibly wish for," smiled Harry as he pulled Sirius into another hug.

"I know," Sirius smiled. "So?" he said when he was facing Harry again. "Are you going to tell Remus that they're his children?"

"I dunno," said Harry. "I mean, I _do_ want us to be back together but…he can't seem to get over the fact that I slept with his best friend first. By the way he's been acting you'd think you were his worst enemy or something."

"Well," said Sirius with a sigh, "Moony _is_ very possessive."

"Remus? Possessive?" Harry couldn't quite picture it.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "You may think he's the perfect Gentleman at first but as soon as emotions get involved…and he's a werewolf don't forget. The wolf seems to decide what it wants and doesn't want. Most of the time Remus can control it – keep the wolf at bay, so to speak. But when Remus gets angry the wolf in him sort of tries to take over. It was like that when we were at Hogwarts," Sirius explained. "He used to think that I was stealing his boyfriends when in actual fact it was Remus pushing them away."

"But why would he want to do that?" asked Harry.

"It's complicated," said Sirius, running a hand through his long, black hair. "It wasn't really _him._ Remus sort of had two consciences; himself and the wolf. He and I had been dating for almost a year and things were fine; he got a little possessive when he saw me with girls and other guys but apart from that, it was good. Then half way through 7th year we decided to break it off – things weren't really working out with us; we were better friends than we were lovers. So we broke up. That's when Remus fell pray to the wolf in him. The few boyfriends he actually let himself have he just pushed away. The wolf convinced him that _I_ was the bad guy and that I was stealing them from him and Remus actually grew pretty aggressive."

"Aggressive?" said Harry surprised. "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"Yup," said Sirius. "He landed me in the hospital wing a fair few times. We all knew it wasn't the _real _Remus though; it was the wolf trying to get its own way and it was succeeding. When Remus was hurt or angry the wolf just took control over him."

"And you want me to get back with him and let him around my children?" said Harry, looking at Sirius as though he was mad.

"Oh, he's not like that anymore," he said hurriedly. "He can handle the wolf most of the time now. I think it's gotten easier with age, and the potion he's taking helps him loads. Now when he's angry he just scares people because when he yells he _really_ does yell."

"I'd noticed," muttered Harry, remembering what he had been like in the hospital.

"But he's not violent," he reassured him. "Well, obviously, if he's in the situation when he needs to bring out the wolf's characteristics then he can do that. But he can control it all now; if he needs the wolf's strength then he can just summon it like that, but _it_ never takes control of _him_ anymore; _he_ controls _it_."

"Yeah," said Harry, "But this possessive stuff still sounds kind of scary."

"Trust me," smiled Sirius. "There's no need to fear him. His _enemies _should fear him, but he would _never _hurt you. Physically anyway," he added on seeing the look on Harry's face. "For instance, look at how he was last week when you had the babies. He was happy and the wolf was happy. I admit that at first I didn't know why the wolf was happy, but now it's plain to see. The wolf had found a mate and the wolf had its own 'cubs'. Remus might not have known that they were his but the wolf certainly did. Obviously, Remus doesn't listen to what the wolf says anymore so he didn't believe they could be his, but as soon as he found out about me sleeping with you then the old anger awoke in him and he jumped to the conclusion, yet again, that I was the bad guy and that I'd stolen something from him."

Harry stared off absently, letting all this sink in. It sounded very confusing but once you thought about it, it made complete sense. Werewolves were very possessive creatures and were capable of controlling their human counter part if they were weak or hurt enough to believe them. But they were also very protective creatures and would do anything they could to stop their loved ones from getting hurt; as long as they really believed that their loved one really_ was_ their loved one.

"Believe me Harry," said Sirius, "The wolf _can_ be tamed. It just takes time. Remus being a werewolf isn't always a bad thing. He may have injured me quite a few times but he's also jumped to my defence in dangerous situations."

Harry sighed deeply and lay his head on Sirius' shoulder. Maybe he should get a book on werewolves so he could understand Remus better. Werewolves were such complicated lovers. But pretty good bodyguards, Harry thought to himself.

"You think I should talk to him then?" he asked finally, sitting up.

"Absolutely," he said with a smile. "It's not going to get sorted if you don't."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," he sighed. He got up and stretched before moving over to the kitchen. "I need to feed the babies before I do anything else though – Leanna will probably be waking them all up soon enough."

"I heard you'd named them," said Sirius who had followed him into the kitchen. "Can I ask what their full names are?"

"Joshua Remus Potter," he smiled, lifting a bottle and filling it up with the baby milk, "Leanna Marie Potter, and Skylar Nicole Potter."

"Remus, Marie, and Nicole?" he smiled. "So you guys named them when you were still together I take it?"

"Yeah," he said. "It took us forever to decide whose surname they should have. No matter who the father was, they were going to be Remus'. No offence," he added to Sirius.

"None taken," he said with a smile. "And let me guess; Remus was adamant that they be 'Potters' because you had carried them."

"How did you know that?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Remus always found it unfair," he smiled fondly and he imitated Remus; "'The mother carried them for 9 months, why should they take the fathers name?'"

Harry laughed. "He also said he wanted my family name to carry on because I was the last Potter remaining."

"Yeah, he's got millions of nephews and nieces," he said as he watched Harry testing the temperature of the bottles. "His two older brothers went off, got rich, and had kids. He hates them."

"He hates them?"

"Well, they did go off and leave the family," said Sirius fairly. "They become rich but they never sent a penny of it home when they _knew_ their parents were struggling. He hasn't seen them for years."

"Have you ever met them?" Harry asked, handing Sirius a bottle.

"Only a few times," he said. "When we were in 1st year they were in 6th and 7th year. We never really spoke though. Apparently they wrote home and told their parents that Remus was hanging around with a 'Black'. Remus put in a good word for me though."

"They sound horrible," said Harry, leaning against the counter. "I always pictured Remus' family to be a nice, little, cosy household where they all loved and looked out for one another."

"You know, so did I until I met them," Sirius told him. "But the 'Lupins' weren't really that well known, being poor and half-bloods. His Grandmother was a muggle," he added. "She was a really nice old lady. She always used to write to Remus, even though she wasn't a witch. Always used to send him sweets and stuff. I always got the impression that Remus was her favourite grandchild."

"Was she, by any chance, called Marie?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," he said. "How did you know that?"

"Leanna _Marie_ Potter," said Harry. "He said it was his Grandmother's name. Do you know who Nicole was?"

"I think it was his Auntie," he said thoughtfully, "On his mother's side. His paternal side have been half-bloods for generations and his maternal side were all muggles until his mother and Auntie – both muggle-borns. His Auntie Nicole was always standing up for him; she was always there for him, he could always talk to her."

"Where is she now?" asked Harry.

"Dead," he told him. "She was forever joining protests and causing trouble at the Ministry, campaigning for freedom for house elves, werewolves, and so on. It was said that she was killed by Death Eaters but we reckon it was the Ministry that did away with her – she knew too much."

Harry didn't know what to say to this; he just couldn't believe the Ministry would do something like that. She sounded like such a nice person; it must have really stung Remus when he heard of her death. Marie and Nicole must have meant a lot to him.

Harry fastened the cap back onto the last bottle and made his way over to the bigger bedroom. Sure enough, as soon as he opened the door, Leanna started to cry, setting the other two off.

"There aren't even any tears," said Harry, picking up Joshua, "She just wails and wakes the rest of them. Oh, leave Skylar 'til last," he added as Sirius bent down to pick her up.

"Is there any reason why?" asked Sirius, picking up the screaming Leanna instead who fell silent as she saw the bottle move towards her mouth.

"Skylar never shuts up until the other two shut up," he told him, "So I always leave her until last, otherwise you're here all day."

"You're just the perfect little mother aren't you?" Sirius teased.

"_Father_," Harry corrected him. "I refuse to be called a 'mother'."

Sirius laughed and looked down at Leanna as she drank from the bottle. "She's adorable," he whispered. "Hey, she's got Remus' eyes."

"I know," he smiled.

"You do know you're going to have to have them tested for the werewolf gene, right?" he asked, looking up at Harry.

"Yeah," he sighed. "But I don't have to do that straight away, do I?"

"Rather sooner than later," he said.

"But it was the full moon 5 nights ago," said Harry, "And none of them turned into a werewolf."

"They don't have to," Sirius told him. "They could just be carrying the gene for it. If, at any point in their lives, they contract a serious illness, the gene could become active."

"Really?" asked Harry slightly stunned by this. "They could just…_become_…a werewolf? Without getting bitten?"

"Yup," he said. "Or they could just pass the gene to their children and it could be triggered off then, in your grandchildren."

Pushing aside the fact that it felt strange to be talking about Harry's grandchildren, Harry thought it really was best to get them checked out soon.

"If they've got the gene," said Harry, "Can anything be done to take it away?"

"No," said Sirius, "But they can have a potion to make it less likely that the gene will kick in. It's the main reason the Ministry isn't fond of people who are werewolves starting families; it can spread."

"Yeah, well, when I murder Voldemort's arse, we'll see what the Ministry has to say about it then. I'll take over the bloody place if I have to."

"I can just see that," laughed Sirius. "The Minister won't know what's hit him."

Joshua finished feeding and wriggled in Harry's arms in order to get himself more comfortable. Harry rocked him gently from side to side, watching his eyes close.

"You're parents would be really proud of you, you know," said Sirius quietly and Harry looked up at him.

"They'd really be proud of the fact that their only son has slept with both their best friends, got pregnant by a werewolf, and is now a teenage parent of three locked in his own room?"

"No," laughed Sirius. "But they'd be proud of the way you can handle being a teenage parent of triplets, whilst being at school and fighting the dark side, having the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Harry smiled at him.

"You know," said Sirius, looking back at the baby in his arms. "After the initial shock of finding out Remus had got you pregnant, your father would probably just find the whole thing funny."

"And my mum?" he asked.

"She'd just want to help out and make sure you were ok," Sirius smiled.

"And you?"

"I just want you to be happy."

"You really are the best, you know that?" Harry told him with a smile. "And you're such a natural with kids," he added on seeing Leanna sleeping peacefully in his arms. Harry put Joshua back into his cot and picked up the still-pretending-to-cry Skylar.

"I had a lot of practice with you," he said. "You _never_ shut up crying. It wasn't even crying that you were doing most of the time, it was just some pathetic excuse for a cry; you just wanted attention," he grinned, "And I can see nothing's changed."

"Oi, you wan…"

"Watch your language around little ears," Sirius smirked. Harry laughed softly. As he watched Sirius with Leanna, a thought occurred to Harry.

"You're not busy this week are you?" he asked, giving Skylar her bottle.

"Nope," he said. "I'm free as a bird."

"Well, if it's not too much to ask," he said, "Would you mind looking after them whilst I'm at school? You don't have to if it's too much trouble…"

"I'd love to!" he smiled and his eyes had lit up.

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

"Really," he smiled.

* * *

The talk with Sirius had cheered him up immensely and by Sunday evening he was ready to venture out into the common room again. Sirius had gone home and would be returning the next morning before Harry went off to his first lesson. He was in such high spirits that he just sat around in the common room surrounded by a group of his fellow housemates, just chatting about things in general. He answered a few of their questions about the actual birth and what it had felt like before realising that it was getting pretty late; he wanted to see Remus again to see if things had changed between them and he felt, after being cheered by Sirius' visit, that he could be civil.

Leaving Ron and Ginny with the babies (Hermione was finishing off her Ancient Runes work) he made his way through the dark corridors towards Remus' office. He was just descending the stairs from the fifth floor when he heard footsteps approaching. Wishing he had brought his invisibility cloak he quickly tried to remember where the nearest secret passage was, which happened to be back at the top of the stairs.

He knew he wasn't going to make it, but he turned round all the same and tip-toed as quickly and as quietly as he could back up towards the corridor above and the shelter of the hidden passage but it was too late.

"Potter! Back to your old habit of wandering the corridors after hours I see. 5 points from Gryffindor."

Harry froze at the sound of the all-too familiar voice and gave an inward shudder. Of all the teachers to be caught by, why did he have to be caught by Snape? Fixing a smile on his face, he turned round and saw Snape slowing advancing on him, arms crossed and hidden in his black robes, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Professor," Harry said, "Nice to see you again."

"'Shame the same can't be said about you," he smirked. "Would you care to enlighten me as to the reason why you are out of your dormitory and prowling about the school at night?"

"I wasn't _prowling_," he scowled. "I was _walking_. And it's none of your business."

"I'm afraid, Mr Potter, that you will find that it is indeed very much my business as I am a teacher of this school," he said with a sly smile.

"Fine," he said, arms crossed and looking Snape straight in the face with a smile. "I was _prowling_ about the school trying to sneak into Lupin's office so we could make sweet, passionate love to one another."

A moments silence and then;

"I thought you said you were _walking?_"

They stared at each other for a few moments, Harry doing everything he could to block his mind except look away from Snape; he didn't want to give him the satisfaction. However, before either of them could say another word to each other, the silence was interrupted by another voice.

"Is there a problem here?"

Harry looked down to see Remus standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at them. He was still dressed in his work robes but had on a pair of red and blue checked slippers. Harry couldn't help but smile at the picture.

"Ah, look who it is," Snape grinned, looking back at Harry. "It looks like Lupin had the same idea as you."

"Oh, go fuck yourself," Harry muttered under his breath and he turned back to Remus. "There's no problem Professor," he said, "I was just having a friendly chat here with Severus."

After all the years of hating Snape, after all the years of wanting to hurt him and, at one point, even kill him, Harry had decided that it was much better to just simply annoy the Potions Master. True, it meant more detentions, but it was a lot more fun to see Snape pissed off then it was to just plain hate him and let the man get to him.

"Excuse me Potter?" said Snape sternly, eyebrows raised. "You will address me as 'Sir' or 'Professor' at all times, is that understood?"

"Whatever you want _Professor_," he purred seductively. Snape looked like he didn't know whether he should feel shocked or disgusted so he settled for a mixture of both. Remus just laughed.

"Harry, I was wondering if I could have a chat with you?" he said politely, obviously glad that Harry was in such a good mood.

"Whatever _you_ want _Professor_," he said again, this time to Remus and he had to stifle a laugh at the look on Snape's face. "Would you care to follow me to my room?"

"Oh, absolutely Mr Potter," he grinned and he climbed the stairs to join him.

"Good night Sir," Harry smiled at his Potions teacher and he led Remus along the corridor and up more stairs in silence.

They crossed the common room, which was almost empty now, and entered Harry's rooms. Ron was sat on the sofa flicking through a Quidditch Magazine and Ginny was no where to be seen.

"She's in the bathroom," said Ron when he heard the door open. "Skylar did a poop and there was no _way_ I was changing her. Don't know how you do it mate, it's all nasty and smelly and…oh, hi Professor." He had just looked up and had spotted Remus standing next to Harry.

"Is she nearly finished?" Harry asked, looking over at the bathroom door.

"Should be," said Ron, "She went in there like 10 minutes ago."

As soon as Ron had finished saying this, the bathroom door opened and Ginny came out holding the baby in her arms. She saw Harry and smiled.

"This little one doesn't want to go to sleep," she said. "I think she wants a big cuddle from her daddy."

Harry smiled and held out his arms to receive his youngest daughter and he held her closely to him.

"Thank you guys so much for looking after them," he said gratefully.

"It's no problem," said Ginny.

"I actually _like _being around them," said Ron. "How weird is that?"

"As long as you don't go all broody like Hermione then it's alright to _like _them," Ginny grinned, following Ron over to the door.

"Hermione isn't broody," he said. "She's just _Hermione_. Night guys," he added as he passed Harry and Remus and he went out into the common room, but not before winking at Harry.

"So," said Harry after an awkward silence. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah," said Remus. He walked over to the living room and sat down. "I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour. I was out of order and I shouldn't have said half the things I did."

"Then why did you say them?" Harry asked quietly.

"The same reason you told me Sirius was the father," he said. "I wanted to hurt you."

"What?" Harry turned away from the baby and looked at Remus, not sure he had hurt correctly.

"You hurt me with the whole 'I slept with Sirius and didn't tell you thing' so I wanted to hurt you right back, and I know it was wrong but…"

"No, before that," said Harry.

"You told me that Sirius was the father just to hurt me because I'd hurt you, and before that you'd hurt me and…I'm not going to lie to you, it really did hit me hard when I heard you say that."

But Harry's mind wasn't really paying attention. It was stuck trying to get around what he had just said about Sirius. How did he know that? He had been so sure that Remus had believed him when he had yelled that Sirius was the father.

"Harry, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm…how did you know that I was lying when I said that about Sirius?" he asked, convinced he had defiantly missed something here.

"The paper you left," said Remus as if it was obvious.

"What paper?"

"The paper with the DNA test results written down on it," said Remus. Harry's free hand automatically went to his pocket but it wasn't there. He had been so preoccupied that he hadn't noticed it had gone.

"Where is it?" he asked on finding it wasn't where it should be.

"Right here." Remus pulled the folded piece of paper out of his robe pocket. Harry stared at it.

"Where did you get that?"

"You dropped it," said Remus as if trying to make Harry remember. "When you left my office that night, you dropped it on the floor…" He trailed off when he saw the look on Harry's face. "I wasn't supposed to see this, was I?"

"Of course you were," said Harry. "Just…not then. I was going to tell you now actually."

"So you didn't mean to drop it?" asked Remus. Harry shook his head.

"I can't even make a proper exit without messing something up, can I?" Harry said with a small smile. "So, you've known all weekend then?"

"Yeah," he said. "But by then, things had gone too far and I thought you would never forgive me for what I'd said and done. I mean, I'm the father and yet I haven't seen my children for a week; how bad does that make me look?"

"I'll tell you what," said Harry quietly, as Skylar was falling asleep. "Why don't we just put it all behind us and move on? Start afresh?

"That's fine by me," Remus smiled. Harry resisted asking Remus one more thing; he was really curious to know if Remus would have come back to him if the babies had actually been Sirius'. Would they have made up if that had been the case? But he didn't want to ask in case another argument pursued. He decided it would be better to save the question for another day.

Harry stood up and made his way over to the babies' room and Remus followed. Gently, he put Skylar in her cot and tucked her in, placing a soft kiss to her delicate head. He straightened up and just stood still for a while, watching her sleep.

"They've grown," whispered Remus, looking around at them all. "It's amazing how much they grow in a week."

"They're all developing personalities as well," Harry told him. "But I'll let you figure that out for yourself." Remus encircled his arms around Harry's waist and rested his chin on his shoulder. For a long time they stood in peaceful silence until Harry sighed and turned around in the man's arms.

"So," he said, "Are you going to kiss me or what?"

Remus laughed softly before pressing his lips gently to Harry's.

"I really love you, you know," Remus said quietly, pulling away to look at Harry's blissful face. He ran a hand slowly through Harry's soft hair before caressing his cheek. "It's been agony without you. Everyday just seemed worthless, nothing had any meaning, everything was so empty." He kissed him again, more deeply, lips caressing lips lovingly. "I love you so much."

"I know," Harry smiled into the kiss before breaking it off. He looked up into Remus' bright eyes and smiled cheekily. "You realise that we haven't had sex with each other for 9 months?"

"I am _very_ well aware of that, having spent far too many nights alone with nothing but my hand for company." He indicated to the hand that was still touching Harry's cheek and Harry felt a rush of lust run through his body at the image his mind had just conquered up at Remus' words.

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Harry and he captured Remus' lips in a fierce but passionate kiss.

Fingers fumbled at buttons and tugged urgently on robes as they stumbled out of the room and tried to navigate their way towards Harry's bedroom, knocking over a few photo's and books as they did, but Harry didn't care. He had Remus back and that was all that mattered.

The kiss grew more intense with every step they took, setting Harry's body alight with pure lust. They finally reached their desired destination, having left a trail of clothes on the floor, and they collapsed onto the soft bed, hands roving all over each other. With an effort, Remus detached himself from Harry's lips and began his assault on his neck, licking, nipping, and sucking the flesh, evicting the most beautiful sounds from the young man. Harry writhed beneath him, letting the heat flood through him.

"Stop," Harry gasped, "Stop, we have to stop."

Remus stopped what he was doing and looked up into eyes that perfectly reflected the emotions that were currently coursing through him himself.

"What?" he panted.

"Protection?" he said innocently, tilting his head to one side and smiling at Remus, who laughed.

"I'll be right back," he said and he rolled off of Harry and dashed out of the room. Harry lay on the bed with his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of having his body alive with desire. It had been such a long time since he had felt like this and he wanted to savour it.

He felt the bed dip and opened his eyes to see Remus lying next to him, propped up on his elbow. Judging by the way Remus was looking at him, Harry would have to wait to get what he so desperately sought.

"We haven't got any," he said with an apologetic smile, reaching out to brush a strand of hair out of Harry's face.

"But I'm horny," Harry moaned in frustration.

"I know sweetie," Remus said softly. "But we're going to have to wait."

Harry rolled onto his side and looked at Remus with a smile. "Can't you just give me a blow…"

But his sentence was cut short by a loud cry which Harry knew immediately to be Leanna. Harry shut his eyes and groaned, waiting for the inevitable. And sure enough, two more cries met his ears.

"She does that on purpose," he whined. "Why can't she give us just 10 minutes alone in the bedroom?"

Remus chuckled at the pained look on Harry's face and rolled out of bed again. Harry looked over at him with pleading eyes.

"You can't leave them," said Remus, answering his unasked plea for attention. "They need their daddy."

"Fine," Harry huffed, sitting up and pulling the sheets with him. "Just give me a minute…naked Kreacher, naked Dobby, naked Dumbledore…"

"Harry?"

"Hm? Naked Kreacher, naked Dobby, naked Dumbledore…"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm _trying _to get my body under control," he informed him grumpily. "I can't walk into the babies' room with this thing sticking up can I?"

Remus laughed but Harry just rolled his eyes and continued his chant. "Naked Kreacher, naked Dobby, naked Dumbledore….ewwwww!"

"What?"

"Those three having a threesome!"

"Harry!"

"I can't help it," he whined. "I have an overactive imagination."

"You have a disgusting imagination," Remus corrected him. A silence, and then;

"…naked Dumbledore is actually starting to sound quite appealing."

Harry was promptly hit in the face by a pillow thrown by Remus.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry that chapter had a lot of mini-backstory and typical werewolf info in but it had to appear at some point. I also apoligise for the cliche in that as well. Again, can't be helped.

Thank you all so much for reviewing! I felt like posting this chapter a little early this week because I think it's better if I post on weekends. Don't know why. Just is. lol.

If some of you are thinking that Harry and Remus made up pretty quick...then you're right. Mwhahaha! lol, but seriously, there is a reason for that which should become apparant in the next chapter...so never fear!

I think I've done too much sugar today.


	19. The Nanny

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP but has references to others

* * *

Chapter 19: The Nanny

"Right," said Remus as he grabbed his briefcase off the table and threw his cloak over his shoulders, "I will see you after work. If you need _anything_ just send for me and I'll be right here, ok?"

"Sure," he said as he watched Remus run a comb quickly through his light hair.

"I would come up at lunch time but I think I might try and get some work done then so I'm free to help out tonight." He smoothed his work robes out in front of the mirror.

"I know," said Harry.

"Remember," he said, turning to look at Harry from the door. "If you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask, you got that?"

"Yes," he said.

"Right, I have to go," he said hastily, kissing Harry on the cheek, "I need to sort out today's work. If I don't see you at lunch, I'll see you later tonight. Love you." And with that he left.

Harry flopped back down onto the bed and stared at the door through which Remus had just disappeared and he couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Today he would be returning to school; the only problem was he hadn't told Remus - for the simple reason being he _really_ didn't want to be the one to bring up Sirius, who would be looking after the triplets whilst Harry was in class. Harry was almost certain that Remus wouldn't be - to put it nicely - _entirely happy_ with Sirius being here with the babies. He had tried to reason with himself to pluck up the courage to tell Remus what was going on because this was another one of those situations where it was inevitable that he would find out. But, once again, he had messed up and had failed to tell him at the right moment.

With a heavy sigh he threw on his robe and grabbed a comb in the attempt to straighten his hair. The sun was now visible in the autumn sky, just hiding behind the Quidditch Pitch. That was one of the reasons why Harry was so fond of his new room; it had the perfect view of the Quidditch pitch and Quidditch always made him smile.

With a last look in the mirror, he picked up his school bag and went out into the living room to find Sirius emerging from the fire. Harry smiled at him and made his way over to the kitchen.

"Thank you _so_ much for doing this Sirius," he said, pulling a list out of a drawer. "I owe you big time."

"It's nothing," he smiled watching Harry, "Really. I want to help."

"But still," said Harry. "I mean, it's such short notice and I'm sure you have better things to do with your time than look after three babies."

"Well, it's either this or sit around the house and talk to myself," he smiled. "I think I'd much rather be doing this. Plus, you need to get back to school; you've got your exams this year."

"Don't remind me," he muttered. He came over to the sofa where Sirius was sat and handed him the piece of parchment. Yesterday (before he and Remus had made up) he had spent over an hour writing, checking, and re-checking the list of instructions he had made up for Sirius.

"Right," he said, "I've wrote you a list of everything you need to know. Bottles are in the top right cupboard with the baby milk powder. If they get a bit cranky around lunch time, give them the milk that's in the fridge but _make sure_ that anything you give them is the _right temperature_ – I've wrote that on there," he pointed to the list in Sirius' hand. "The baby wipes and the clean nappies are in the bathroom, bottom cupboard under the sink. You can change them on the changing mat in the bathroom – don't worry, they can't fall off – but make sure you only have _one_ baby in there at a time otherwise they _will_ fall off. Put the dirty nappies in the bags provided and then in the bin – make sure you wash your hands _thoroughly _before picking them up…"

"Harry," Sirius smiled, shaking his head, "I know what to do."

"I know," said Harry, "But I'm just making sure. Now, they should sleep most of the time, but they don't sleep nearly as much as they did last week. If they start crying and they don't need feeding, changing, or burping, then just give them a cuddle and talk to them. If you've been cuddling them for a while, they're not crying, but still wide awake then give them a bath, but only _one at a time_. Don't let go of them, support them so they don't slip, don't get soap in their eyes, and mind their heads – they've still got the soft spots. Their towels are folded up next to the heater to keep them warm."

"I know," he said. "I've done this before with you after all."

"Ok, ok," he said, standing up and picking his bag up again. "But these are my babies, you know…I love them _so much_ and I need to make sure that you know what you're doing."

"I completely understand," he smiled. "And you have my word that they are in the safest possible hands."

"Yeah," he muttered with a smile. "Yeah I know. I trust you. I'm sorry. It's just…I've never left them like this before."

"I can send you an hourly update if you like," he teased.

"Yes, I know, I'm overreacting." He gave Sirius a brief hug and walked over to the door but turned abruptly back round.

"Oh God, I almost forgot! The colours!"

"Huh?

"I had to colour code most things, partly because I kept getting mixed up, partly because I had to. Joshua is _blue_, Leanna is _yellow_, and Skylar is _pink_. If you change their clothes then those are the colours that they have, ok? Now, this is important; Skylar has sensitive skin so she has to wear the nappies that have the _pink stripe_ across them ok? The other two can have the nappies in the purple packet, but Skylar needs the _pink_ ones, right? You got that? The _pink ones_. Ok?"

"Yes, Harry, I've got it," he said, looking over at him to reassure him. "Skylar has everything pink. Joshua is blue for a boy, Leanna is yellow for her amber eyes. Got it. Besides, it's all written down in _big, bold, underlined letters_ here," he shook the list. "Relax," he smiled. "I know what I'm doing and, if in the unlikely event that I don't, I won't act until I have talked to you, ok? And if I can't get to you then I'll have half a dozen Healers down here like that," he clicked his fingers.

"Thanks Sirius, you think of everything," he hugged him again. "Right," he said, walking back over to the door, "If you need anything, you have a copy of my timetable. I'm taking the Marauders map with me but I'm leaving you the invisibility cloak in case something happens. Now, I've got my half of the two-way mirror, I hope you've got yours," he looked at Sirius who pulled the small mirror out of his robe pocket with a smile. "Good," said Harry. "If anything happens then I want you to contact me _straight away._ There's a list of Healer, Ministry, and Order contact details on the fridge so if something drastic happens, I want you to fire call them, ok?"

"Harry, you have my word that I will guard these three babies with my life," he said seriously.

"Really?" Harry looked pleadingly at him.

"Marauders honour," he said holding up a hand and Harry smiled.

"Ok," he breathed. "I'm going to go now. Take care, look after them, and if anything…"

"I know," he laughed. "If anything happens, jump out of the way and let Voldemort run off with them."

"Ok, Mr Sirius-ly not funny, I'm staying here," Harry said un-amused and he came back into the room but Sirius grabbed hold of him lightly and turned him around.

"_You_ are going to school," he laughed, pushing him towards the door. "The babies are going to be _fine_; they couldn't possibly be safer, have you got that? Now _go_."

"Ok," he said, "Ok. I'm going. I'm going to school. I'm going. See? I'm walking out of the door."

"Keep walking," said Sirius. "I don't want to see your pretty little face until the end of school." And with that, Harry stepped out into the common room and Sirius shut the door.

Quite suddenly he was overcome with a sense of emptiness. He didn't know why he was feeling so worried; after all, he had left them before. True, he hadn't been away from them for more than an hour, but he'd still left them hadn't he? And _Sirius _was looking after them. Sirius, the man who had become the Potter's secret keeper at the risk of his own life; Sirius, the man who had gone to prison for a crime he didn't commit; Sirius, the man who had broken out of prison to try and protect Harry. _Sirius_ was with the triplets.

Feeling a lot easier, he set off for the Great Hall.

* * *

"Harry, what are you doing here?" 

He had just taken up his seat at the Gryffindor table, aware that many faces had turned in his direction but he found he didn't care; he had three beautiful babies and all they had was gossip. Besides, he had much more important things to be concerned about.

"I can't stay in my room forever, can I?" he said, picking up a piece of toast. "I have to start back at school at some point. It's N.E.W.T's year after all."

"But who is looking after the babies?" asked Hermione. "Surely the well-being of your children is more important than an education right now?"

For a moment, Harry was stunned that he had heard these words and he had to make sure that they had actually come from Hermione.

"I thought _nothing_ was more important that an education?" said Ron, obviously as shocked as Harry was at this.

"Of course there are things more important," she said. "I just thought that Harry had more sense than to just hire _anybody _for the job of looking after his children."

"For you information," he said, waving a piece of toast at her, "I haven't hired just 'anybody' – I'm not that stupid."

"Then who have you got looking after them then?" she asked.

"Sirius," he told them. "I asked him yesterday and he was more than happy to help."

"Sirius _Black?_"

"Do we know any other 'Sirius''?"

"But, from what Ron said last night, you only just got back together with…" she lowered her voice, "With Remus. Is he alright with all this?"

"Actually," he said slowly, "He doesn't know yet."

"You really _are_ an idiot, you know that Harry?"

"Gee, thanks," he muttered. "Look, I know what I'm doing, ok? Besides, don't you think the main priority here is to get back to school and make sure my babies are being looked after by the best possible person?"

"He's right you know," said Ron, but Hermione ignored him.

"And you think Sirius is the 'best possible person' for the job, do you?" she asked sceptically.

"Yeah," he said defensively, "I do. Think about it; he looked after me when I was little, he's really strong, he's my godfather, and he's one of the most loyal people I know."

"And the fact that you slept with him and you and Remus fell out over it doesn't mean a thing?"

"Right," he said.

"Well, if you ask me," she said, "You're heading for trouble again."

"Well no one asked you did they?" said Ron. "Just ignore her," he said to Harry, "I think it's great you're back at school and you've got someone _reliable _and _trustworthy_," he emphasized the words for Hermione's sake, "to look after the babies."

"Thanks Ron," he smiled. Hermione just shook her head.

Through out the day, Harry was bombarded with questions and comments from students. Most of them were really happy for him and asked if they could perhaps come and visit to see the babies; some even offered to help. He did, however, get some nasty stares – mainly from the Slytherins – but he ignored them. As he kept reminding himself, they really weren't worth the bother.

Once back in the classroom, Harry's worries about the babies were swept away. The work they were doing in lessons required all of their concentration and by the end of Charms, Harry almost felt things were back to normal and that there had never been any interruption in the flow of things. Almost.

Every now and then, Harry couldn't help but sneak a glance at the map he was now carrying around in his robe pocket but he did, however, resist the urge to use the mirror. As Hermione had to constantly remind him, if something was wrong then _Sirius_ would contact _him_. But apart from that, he felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

At lunch time, however, he was quickly becoming the paranoid parent again. He knew that it was all part of the being a parent; you had to learn to leave them and trust them with some one else. But he felt as though they were a part of him, and physically they had been for 9 months. He just wanted to be there with them. He just wanted to hold them in his arms and look at them. If it wasn't for Hermione he would have been running up the many staircases back to his room right now.

"You can do this Harry," she said encouragingly. "Just two more hours to go, that's all. You'll be able to see them again in just two more hours time."

"But what if something happens in those two hours? What if something happens to Sirius and he can't…"

"_Nothing _is going to happen," she said. "I promise you."

Harry could feel himself starting to shake. It was taking all of his self control to just sit at the table when all he wanted to do was run. He quickly cast around for a change of topic in order to distract himself.

"So, what are you guys up to this weekend?"

* * *

After lunch was over (and Harry had succeeded in staying away from Gryffindor Tower) they got up and headed for third lesson, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Harry was dreading it. He hadn't seen Remus since this morning, the man having been held up at lunch. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to say to him, but was once again regretting not having informed him of the situation sooner. 

He entered the classroom and took up his usual spot at the front, pulling out his books, parchment, and quill. He set them neatly on his desk and looked up to find Remus looking at him questioningly, although surprised all the same. As the class were still talking amongst themselves, Remus came up to him.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," he said. "You didn't say you were starting back today."

"I know," said Harry quietly. "I forget." _Well that was a dumb answer_, Harry scolded himself mentally.

"You forgot you were coming back?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "What with everything going on…" He trailed off as he was unsure of what to say next.

"Who are the babies with? _Please_ tell me you haven't left them with just anyone." Why did everyone keep thinking that? First Hermione, now Remus. Did they seriously think that he would leave his own flesh and blood with just _anyone?_ Especially when they were at war. Did they think he was _that_ irresponsible?

"No, I haven't," he said. "They're safe, don't worry."

"Who are they with then?" he asked.

"Someone from the Order," Harry muttered. He could see Hermione looking at him from the corner of his eye and, combined with Remus' questioning, he was becoming flustered.

"Who? I thought they were all at work?" said Remus. But before Harry had to go through the trouble of thinking of something to say, Ron spoke up and saved him.

"Professor, what mark did I get for my homework?" he asked. "I really tried hard with that and I've been looking forward to it all weekend."

Although this comment brought some sniggers from some of the students, it worked. Remus straightened up and laughed, making his way back to his desk.

"You need to try harder Ron," he smiled, handing him back his homework. "Not quite full marks, but you do have a very interesting take on the habits of the Runespoor."

"Damn," Ron muttered, but he winked at Harry who mouthed back 'thank you'.

Harry spent most of the lesson not taking in a word of what Professor Lupin was saying. Instead, his mind was searching for all the possible ways of getting out of talking to Remus at the end of the lesson, but when he saw no convincing way to achieve this he started looking for the best way in which to tell Remus that Sirius was looking after their children. All scenarios ended up with the both of them having another argument.

By the end of the lesson, Harry had just prepared himself for the worst. He would argue his case and he would not show weakness; that was the best way to do it. He wasn't going to let himself get upset over this; _he_ was in the right and he wasn't going to let Remus convince him otherwise.

The classroom emptied a lot sooner than Harry had expected and he looked up as he felt Remus' eyes fall on him. He gulped.

"You haven't listened to a word I've said in class today, have you? What's wrong?"

The man was being all nice and caring again. How the hell was Harry going to tell him? And how the hell did Harry get himself into these things? Maybe he could just make a run for it…jump out of the window…_accidentally_ fall into the fire with a handful of floo powder…

"Nothing's wrong," he muttered. "It's just…I've done something you're not going to be too pleased about."

"Like what?"

Harry bit the inside of his cheek and looked at his desk. He felt very much like a school boy who was about to be told off by his teacher for some juvenile mistake. In a way, Harry thought sadly, he was.

"I've asked Sirius to look after the babies whilst I'm at school." He said this quietly, head still down. But as he said it he noticed that he didn't feel the remorse or the shame he thought he would; in fact, he felt quite good about it. He had left Sirius in charge and he was damn proud of his decision. _Apparently_, Remus wasn't.

"You what?" he snapped. "You left our children with _him?_"

"Yes," said Harry, feeling stronger, and he looked up at Remus. "Yes, I left them with him and he's going to be looking after them whenever I need him to or when he wants to."

"I don't think so," said Remus obstinately. "I will not have that man looking after my children!"

"_Our_ children," Harry corrected him. "And 'that man' is your best friend."

"_Used_ to be my best friend," said Remus. "How could you think I would be ok with this?"

"I didn't think you'd be ok with this," Harry told him with a frown. "I _knew_ you'd be against it. Why do you think I can't tell you these things?"

"'Against it' is just a nice way of putting it," he said sharply, ignoring Harry's last comment. "What I feel towards that man goes beyond that."

"You're just being childish," Harry said angrily. "Would you prefer me to stay with them and never go back to school?"

"Of course I don't want that," he shouted. "But why _him?_"

"Because he's Sirius," said Harry heatedly, "And I wouldn't have anyone else look after them!"

"I don't want Sirius anywhere near us, is that understood?" he shouted fiercely and Harry was forcefully reminded of what Sirius had told him about the werewolf, but he didn't feel threatened. Instead, he was angered by these words, by the determination and hatred with which Remus spoke.

"_I _carried them for 9 months,_ I_ gave birth to them!" he shouted at him, getting to his feet and staring the man in the face. "And if I remember correctly, you left me to deal with them on my own for a whole week! I really don't think you have a say in this!"

"They're my children just as much as they're yours!" he snapped. "I have every right to a say in this!"

"Oh, I don't think so," Harry retorted. "You left the Hospital in such a hurry that you didn't sign their birth certificate. You may be their father by blood, but you aren't _legally_. You have no rights!"

"You bastard," he growled. "I can't believe you just said that!"

"Well it's the truth!" Harry shouted. "And until you start acting like their father I'm not prepared to let you sign anything."

"I'm their father!" he yelled. "You can't do this to me!"

"And _you_ can't make me shut Sirius out of my life! He's a part of my life and he's going to be a part of the babies lives as well, whether you like it or not!"

"I don't want him having anything to do with our children!" he shouted. "After everything he's done to me I don't even know why I stayed friends with him for this long!"

Harry opened his mouth to shout back put he closed it again; yelling wasn't doing either of them any good. He took a breath and tried to calm himself down before he spoke again.

"You remember when you said you'd be with me no matter who the father was?" said Harry, quietly but strongly. "You said it didn't matter who their father was, you would still be with me and love me and the children all the same. Would you still have come back to me last night if they_ had_ been Sirius'? Or was it all just talk? Empty words?"

"When I said that I didn't know it meant 'Sirius'," he snarled.

"So you would have left me then?" asked Harry, hurt. "After everything you said, you would have just left me to raise three children on my own?"

"Like I said," he whispered dangerously. "I will not raise Sirius' children. And I certainly won't let him help raise my own."

"You selfish prat," Harry breathed sharply and he felt ashamed to feel tears creeping into his eyes after he had promised himself he wouldn't cry. "You don't love me at all, do you? It was all just talk after all, wasn't it? You just want a family and someone to fuck. You don't care about me. You don't care about what I want. To you I'm just some stupid teenager who had your children."

When Remus didn't reply, Harry turned around. He wasn't about to wait for the man to think up more excuses. He wasn't going to stand here and wait for a little ray of hope. He had made it all the way across the classroom and to the door when Remus finally spoke up.

"I love you," he said quietly. "And I'm scared of losing you."

"Then why are you pushing me away?" Harry asked, looking back at him. Remus had sat down in the seat Harry had vacated and his head was in his hands. Harry slowly crossed the room and approached Remus, immensely glad at the change of tempo the argument had suddenly taken.

"Because I'm stupid," he sniffed and they both managed a small laugh. Remus dried his eyes. "Because I'm scared of letting you get too close."

"Why?" asked Harry softly, kneeling down in front of him.

"In case you don't like what you see," he muttered. "In case you don't like what we have so you leave me and hurt me. And if you hurt me, I'll hurt you…and I can't bear that thought. I love you so much…I would never forgive myself."

"That would never happen," Harry said.

"It did with Sirius," he told him. "We were together and I thought we were really happy. I got too close to him so when we broke up I wanted to hurt him. I almost _killed_ him Harry."

"No, the _wolf_ almost killed him," Harry said, "It wasn't you. And besides, who says that is going to happen with _us_?"

When Remus didn't say anything, Harry continued.

"I never set out to hurt you when I slept with him, you know? I never meant for all of this to happen. You think I want to be stuck with three kids at this age? Do you think I want to be stuck in the middle of this…_disaster_? I don't know what to do…I really don't. Everything seems to be going wrong…I can't get anything right…I can't please the people I want to please and I always seem to hurt the people I love…I love you with all my heart and I would _never_ leave you."

Harry had stopped battling the tears long ago and had settled his head in Remus' lap, sobbing gently. He heard Remus sniff and he moved to wipe his eyes again.

"How many times are we going to argue before we get it right?" said Remus. "This is all my fault for being so…"

"It's not all your fault at all," said Harry, looking up at him. "If I wasn't so stupid I wouldn't get myself in to these things and we wouldn't be arguing."

"But it's me," he said, "If I could just forget the whole thing with Sirius…but I can't. I can't forget what happened and I…"

"I'm not saying you have to," said Harry. "I'm just asking you to just…let him be there. You don't have to make friends – just don't drive him away from us."

Remus seemed to consider this before he spoke. It was only then that Harry became aware of the time; lessons had started 15 minutes ago. It was alright for Harry because he had a free period, but Remus was supposed to be teaching. Harry turned his head towards the closed door where, no doubt, 30 odd students stood waiting, wondering what was going on inside the classroom.

"I don't have to talk to him do I?" Remus asked and Harry looked back at him. "Sirius I mean. I won't have to talk to him will I?"

"I wouldn't make you do anything you don't want to do," said Harry.

"Then I suppose he can look after them," he sniffed. "And I'm sorry for being such a jerk about all this…but it hurts, you know?"

"I know," said Harry. "I'm sorry for making all this shit happen."

"And I'm sorry for making it worse," he said with a small smile.

Harry pulled himself onto Remus' knee and into a loving kiss. Somehow, the kiss seemed to make everything alright again. It chased his fears away and reassured him that he was in love and was loved in return. It made everything that had happened before seem unimportant and it reminded him of the beautiful things life had given him. There were so many emotions in just one simple gesture; there was sorrow and forgiveness, there was hate, love, regret, need, happiness, lust, there was acknowledgment and acceptance. He found he could easily get lost in the kiss.

"At least there's an upside to arguing," said Remus when he pulled away for air. "We can always look forward to the 'kiss and make up' bit."

"How about we just skip the argument bit and jump straight to the kissing?" Harry said with a smile.

"Fine by me," Remus smiled leaning in for another kiss but Harry put a finger to his lips.

"But the kissing is going to have to wait," he said, laughing slightly as Remus whined. "You have a class outside."

"Oh screw them," he muttered before pulling Harry into another heated kiss.

* * *

Harry returned to his room with a smile on his face. He felt exhausted. It had been another emotional day and, although he felt happy and peaceful, he didn't know _what _he _should_ be feeling. 

Remus was still refusing to make up with Sirius and Harry couldn't help but wonder if he had destroyed their friendship forever. They may have had their troubles before all of this had happened but the recent events just seemed to have been the icing on the cake.

He supposed if he gave them time…maybe discuss with the other why they hated the other…maybe then they would understand each other. Sirius must have really hurt Remus when they broke up all those years ago…maybe Sirius hadn't known how much Remus had loved him. It was more than clear that they were well and truly over each other now though, so Remus must have gotten_ some_ closure…

"Well," said a voice, "Don't you look tired. Tough day?"

"You could say that," said Harry, dropping his bag on the floor and collapsing into a chair. "How've they been?"

"Absolute angels," Sirius smiled. "I've just got them to go to sleep; they've been up most of the afternoon so I managed to bath them all and read them one of their books."

"You, Sirius, are one of the greatest people I have ever met," he said lying down on the sofa.

"I know," he smiled. "Are you sure you're ok though?"

"I'm fine," he yawned. "Just tired. Think I might have an early night."

"You'll be alright on your own or do you want me to stay?"

"Whatever you want to do," he said. "You think you're up to looking after me as well as the babies?"

"Oh, that might be a bit of a challenge," he teased. "You seem to be the baby of the lot."

"If I wasn't so weak right now, I'd hit you."

Sirius laughed softly and placed a kiss to Harry's forehead.

"I have to go and have a word with Dumbledore about something," he said, getting to his feet. "If you need me, you have the mirror."

"Thank you for your help," he murmured sleepily.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come back later on?" he asked.

"Remus will be here later," he said. "He's got to look after them at some point."

Sirius laughed softly again and fastened his robes up.

"There're 6 galleons in my bag," Harry said, pointing to the floor.

"I don't want _paying _for this Harry," he laughed. "I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart."

"Then I love your heart," he smiled. "Ok. But if you _ever_ need _anything_ I'm here."

"I know," he smiled. He bent down and kissed Harry on the head again. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N:** Yay! Another chapter posted and Remus and Harry are all happy and jolly and in love! Yay! But I have trouble in store for the next chapter because I'm evil! 

Can't write loads right now coz there's this fic I have been dying to read all day and I've finally got a chance so I'm off to read it. I've been looking forward to this all day, lol. Yeah...exciting life that I lead. But the fic sounds really good so toodles!

And thank you all so much for reviewing! -does happy dance-


	20. The Allegations begin

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP

* * *

Chapter 20: The Allegations Begin

Harry sat at the Gryffindor table fighting the temptation to just collapse and go to sleep. Skylar had refused to go to sleep last night and Harry and Remus had taken it in turns to sit with her until she had finally dozed off. Remus, who was sat at the staff table and eating a bowl of cereal, seemed to take the lack of sleep really well. Harry supposed he was used to it after all the sleepless nights the full moon brought, but Harry was finding it hard to fight off.

"That coffee isn't going to drink itself," said Ginny cheerfully. Harry had been sat still for the passed 5 minutes, just staring at his cup of coffee. He felt he hadn't the strength to extend an arm and lift it up.

"You should have stayed off today if you haven't slept," said Hermione. "We would have told Professor Sprout where you were and I'm sure she would understand."

"I'll be fine later on," he muttered, coming out of his stupor. He reached out with an effort and pulled his cup over to him as the post owls swooped around the hall. He shook his head to wake himself up and took a sip of the coffee.

"Anything interesting?" Ron asked, looking down at the paper Hermione had just unfolded.

"Not really," she muttered, flicking through and scanning its pages. "Something about some shops in Knockturn Alley being searched by Ministry officials - about time if you ask me…a couple of arrests down in Manchester – some kids under the imperious curse…uh oh."

"What?" They all abandoned their breakfast and looked towards her.

"It looks like they have some new, devious reporter working for them…she has no proof, it's just speculation…and it _is_ the Gossip Column…but this might cause a few problems…"

"What?" they asked again.

"This," she said and she pointed at a small article.

_A Little_ too_ Friendly? _By Lola Joy

_By now, you are all familiar with the recent events surrounding Harry Potter. On the evening of the 24th October he gave birth to not one, but three babies; one boy and two girls. It has also come to our attention that yesterday the 'Chosen One' resumed his education at Hogwarts School. What we weren't aware of however, was that a Mr Remus Lupin, a teacher at Hogwarts and a personal friend of Mr Potter's, was in the delivery room when the young man gave birth. Reliable sources also say that the two wizards are a lot closer than any strictly 'student-teacher' relationship should be. According to witnesses, Mr Lupin is rumoured to have entered Mr Potter's private rooms at the school, not leaving until the morning after. Is this just one friend offering innocent help to the other, or could there be more to this than meets the eye? Watch this space._

Harry finished reading the article and looked up, aware of many eyes flashing in his direction then swivelling around to look at Professor Lupin. He was sure that many of them wouldn't believe it, but then again, this was Hogwarts – Gossip Capital of the Country. Even if they didn't believe it and passed it off as rubbish, they were still going to talk about it and look for all the reasons why it could and could not be true.

"Looks like everyone's read it," said Ron, casting an eye around the chattering hall.

"Just ignore it Harry," said Hermione, leaning over to him. "It's just gossip; they'll get bored of talking about it eventually."

"But its public gossip," Harry said, "This isn't just some Hogwarts thing, is it? It's gone public."

"Oh, come on," said Ginny, with an encouraging smile. "Who is going to believe that _Harry Potter_ is screwing a teacher? _You _know your not and that's the important thing."

But she was, of course, wrong. They may not exactly be 'screwing' at the moment, what with the babies to take care of, but they _were_ together and this Lola Joy person seemed to be heading in the right direction.

"I want to know who these 'witnesses' are," said Ron. "Nobody other than a Gryffindor and a teacher can get to your room so it must have been one of them who saw Remus go in."

"Wait a minute," said Ginny suspiciously, "Professor Lupin _did_ stay the night?"

"Well yeah," said Harry thinking fast, "But only because I was struggling with the triplets. He's a close friend, you know he is."

"Anyway," said Ron, "These witnesses. What do you reckon? Gryffindors?"

"But I thought they all promised to keep anything that happened on Gryffindor territory just between the house?" said Ginny. "They've been a real help so far; they've squashed loads of rumours."

"But not all rumours are going to be beaten," said Hermione wisely, "And not all Gryffindors are going to keep quiet about what goes on."

They sat in thoughtful silence for a moment or two, Ron picking at his breakfast. Harry could tell that they wanted to say something to him but couldn't say it in front of Ginny.

Harry didn't really know what to think of the article. He knew that when _The Daily Prophet_ got onto something, they usually followed it through until they got the 'inside scoop' but he wasn't that worried. It was only in the gossip column after all. There was nothing to worry about until the story hit 'main news' status and Harry didn't see that happening any time soon.

After a few more moments silence Ginny seemed to take the hint and she stood up in a huff and left to go and talk to Luna at the Ravenclaw table.

"We're going to have to keep an eye out," said Ron as soon as she had gone, "Especially if there're Gryffindors reporting things to the papers."

"And you're going to have to be careful," Hermione said to Harry. "Remus will have to stop staying over."

"Look," said Harry, banging his coffee cup down on the table, "I am not putting my life on hold because of some stupid article. It's my life and I can do what the hell I like with it. Besides, I need help taking care of the babies and he _is_ their father."

"But Harry, if this gets…"

"Nothing can get out," he said. "None of them know what goes on in my room so how can _anything_ possibly get out? All they've got to talk about is how we're close friends and he stays over to look after the babies with me. Not much of a story is it?"

But by the end of the week, Harry thought he was going to scream. Similar articles had appeared in other wizarding papers and magazines and Harry suspected that there wasn't one single person in the entire castle that hadn't heard about it. Students were staring more than usual when they passed in the corridors, some looking at him with disgusted faces, others winking at him and cheering. To his annoyance, Snape found the recent article something of great interest and he and the Slytherins never failed to smirk at him whenever they saw him. He knew the Slytherins didn't believe the article, but since when did something like that ever stop them from teasing Harry?

Remus was having an easier time than Harry was as he was a teacher and most of the students didn't dare ask him the same questions they had been asking Harry. He just acted as though the article meant nothing to him and got on with his work. The teachers seemed to think it was all just some childish rumour and they made sure to give detention to anyone caught discussing it. Professor Lupin, they said, was a very respectable teacher and shouldn't be talked about in such a manner.

As November rolled on, the gossip about Harry and Remus seemed to disappear, as they had predicted, and was replaced with talk about other people's relationships; apparently, Terry Boot had slept with someone or other…Harry didn't really pay much attention; he was just glad that his name wasn't coming up as often as it had.

Remus and Sirius still weren't talking to each other but Harry had learnt to accept it. On the few occasions that the two men had ended up in the same room together, both had pretended that the other didn't exist. Harry had tired a dozen times to get conversation flowing between them again but it was no use; Harry had never known either of them to be this stubborn. In the end, Harry had given up.

The babies, now a month old, had started to make the cutest little sounds Harry had ever heard. True, it was just the occasional 'ah' and 'goo' but Harry's heart melted all the same. They had also started to respond to sound. If Harry closed a cupboard door they would all turn to look in the direction the noise had come from. Harry marvelled at how well they seemed to be developing. He found he could just look at them for hours at a time, just watching the babies move around. He would watch their big, baby eyes darting curiously around the room, would watch them trying to form other little sounds with their mouths; he felt a sense of pride in knowing that he had helped create them.

He and Remus were spending more time together as the weeks went by. As soon as school finished for the day, Remus would be there. He would stay with him for most of the weekend, not caring what the gossips said; these were his children and he was going to be there for them.

By the end of November however, Harry and Remus still hadn't managed to sleep with each other. Whenever they were both in the mood they would be interrupted by the triplets, and when they had some free time to themselves, they were too exhausted to even think about it. Although Christmas was still a month away, Harry had his heart set on spending a romantic, _baby-free_, night with Remus.

In the first week of December, Harry decided to take the babies out into the grounds. For winter, it wasn't that cold and even if it had been, Harry would have taken them out anyway. They had been cooped up in Gryffindor Tower for a month and they needed fresh air. Harry and Remus had had a lot of fun trying to get the babies to wear the little gloves, coats, and hats that they had bought for them and when they were all wrapped up Remus had levitated the prams downstairs and Harry, Ron, and Hermione had carried the babies. As soon as they reached the empty Entrance Hall, Ron and Hermione said goodbye and went off to Hogsmeade to do some shopping.

Harry set off out into the grounds with Skylar wrapped up nice and warm - and greatly resembling a pink marshmallow - in her pram. Remus accompanied him, pushing Joshua and Leanna. They walked slowly around the grounds, staying clear of the forest and lake – Harry had been paranoid that some creature would jump out and knick the prams or they could simply fall into the icy water and be eaten by the giant squid. They walked in silence for a few minutes, listening to the little noises the babies were making and watching them look up at the castle with something that might have been awe.

"We're going to have to get them checked over," said Remus as they strolled passed Hagrid's hut.

"For what?" asked Harry.

"The werewolf gene," he told him and Harry nodded. He remembered Sirius telling him about it last month but he had completely forgotten.

"I'll book them in for next week," he said, "Remind me."

Remus nodded but didn't say anything. He continued to push the pram, looking down at his children fondly.

"I'm sure they haven't got it," said Harry as if he knew what Remus was thinking. "And even if they have, we can deal with it."

"But what if the gene becomes active? What if they actually become…a werewolf?"

"Then we'll deal with that as well," said Harry. They continued to walk in silence, welcoming the gentle winter breeze on their faces. The babies seemed to be enjoying it, even if they didn't know what was going on.

"Whilst we're at the hospital getting them checked, we can also get the birth certificates signed," said Harry. "We've left it long enough."

"Really?" Remus smiled over at him and Harry smiled back.

"Yeah," he said, "No matter how many arguments we have, you're still their father. And then maybe we can think of getting them christened."

They walked for just over an hour, talking about anything in general. The fresh air seemed to be working wonders on the babies as they were all snuggling down into their blankets and falling asleep. It seemed impossible that three beautiful things such as themselves had managed to cause so much trouble for Harry and Remus and had created world wide gossip. They were so oblivious to the stir their existence had caused.

They were just starting to head back towards the castle steps when there was a sudden flash of fire in mid air and a red and gold feather floated to the ground. After Harry had straightened up (he had dived over the prams to 'protect the babies from canon fire') he looked over at Remus who was picking up the feather with a heavy sigh.

"I have to go," he informed Harry. "Order meeting."

"But the babies are asleep and the castle is practically empty," whined Harry. "I was thinking me and you could spend some quality time together." By 'quality time together' he meant 'I want to fuck you through the mattress' and Remus knew it.

"I'm sorry sweetie," he said, blushing slightly, "But its Order business, you know…"

"When do we ever get this kind of opportunity?" Harry moaned.

"I know," he said sympathetically, "But it can't be helped."

"Fine," he sighed, "I understand. You better get going otherwise you're going to be late."

Remus pulled him into a hug and Harry placed a kiss to his cheek before watching the man set off down the path that led to Hogsmeade.

* * *

_More than Just a Hug? _By Lola Joy 

_Yesterday afternoon Harry Potter was seen in the Hogwarts grounds taking his three 1 month old children for a spot of fresh air. Now this may seem like an innocent, everyday thing to do but when you add Professor Remus Lupin to the equation we, at _The Daily Prophet_, can't help but wonder. The pair were seen strolling around the grounds with the three young babies yesterday around mid-day when most of the students were visiting the local village, Hogsmeade. Sources say that they could see that the student and teacher were talking but were unable to hear what was being discussed. However, at the end of this would-be romantic stroll, the pair were seen hugging and, as you can see in the picture, a small kiss was exchanged. This news only furthers rumours of an illegal relationship but, unfortunately, nothing can be proved. This reporter will be making further investigations. Watch this space. _

And accompanied with the article was a small photo of Harry and Remus hugging. Harry watched his picture self place a kiss to Remus' cheek and cursed inwardly; _The Daily Prophet_ was getting too close to the truth.

He folded up the paper and placed it down on the table, feeling a lot more apprehensive than he felt was necessary. He had thought (well_, hoped_) that the first article that had appeared in the gossip column would be the last and that they wouldn't have to deal with anymore nasty, but true, rumours. He was, however, sadly mistaken.

"You've seen it then?" said Hermione's voice and he looked up to see her and Ron coming in through the door. Ron sat down next to him and dropped a pile of newspapers on the table in front of Harry.

"It's everywhere," Ron informed him. "_The Wizard Times, Weekend Wizardry, Hogsmeade Herald_…it's in all the local papers and most of the national ones. I'll bet you anything it's in tomorrows _Witch Weekly._"

"All the gossip magazines will have it by next week as well," said Hermione sounding slightly put-out.

"It hasn't gone main news or anything," said Ron as if trying to cheer Harry up. "So far it's only appeared in the paper's gossip/scandal columns, so chances are people aren't going to believe it."

But that wasn't true and he knew it. If the gossip had spread to such a large scale then more and more people were likely to think that there was _some_ truth behind the rumours, especially if it was going to be published in main stream scandal magazines as Hermione said it would.

"_The Daily Prophet_ seems to be everyone's main source though," said Hermione, putting her feet up on the sofa, "Which obviously isn't a good thing because that's the only international paper that has the so called 'story'."

As _The Daily Prophet _was Britain's most popular international paper, it made sense that all the other countries were picking up on the news as well. As soon as _The Daily Prophet_ made it world wide news all the other country's independent papers would write about it.

"I can't believe this Lola person," said Ron, looking down at her name in the paper. "It kind of makes you wish we had Rita back, doesn't it?"

"Rita! That's it!"

"What?" Harry looked over at Hermione who had a smile on her face.

"We get you to give her another interview," she said simply.

"Oh no," he said, shaking his head. "I am not giving her another interview."

"Why not?" she asked, "She helped out loads last time and…"

"Do you really think she is going to write for _The Quibbler_ again?" asked Ron. "And for _free?_ We were lucky she did it last time."

"You didn't let me finish, Ronald," she said rolling her eyes. "I was _going_ to say that Harry could give her an interview and she could go to _The Daily Prophet_ with it and say she managed to get an interview; they're bound to let her publish it."

"I dunno Hermione," Harry said slowly, running his fingers through his hair. "I really don't think more publicity is what's needed right now."

"The whole world is under the impression that you and Professor Lupin are sleeping together," she said matter-of-factly. "_Something_ has to be done."

"No," said Harry, "It's just gossip, remember? _If_ it becomes main stream news then yeah, I'll think about giving the interview, but until then…" He trailed off, certain that he didn't have to say anymore to get his point across. Besides, how long could _Lola Joy_ go on writing about him?

* * *

"I'm Harry Potter, I'm here to see Healer Neeson." 

Harry and Remus were stood in the busy reception area of St Mungo's hospital, the babies all in their prams. Harry had remembered to book the triplets in for a check up and Remus was with him because - and Harry thought it was _really_ obvious - he couldn't handle three babies alone, especially in a public place where anything could happen. He had been sure that they would be left alone at the Hospital as there were plenty of other parents here who knew how hard it was to look after one baby let alone three. Knowing the hardships of parenthood they should therefore understand why Remus was here with him. Everybody, however, still seemed to think that the both of them being here with the babies was definitely something to be curious about.

It had been a week since the second article had appeared and they were both receiving many glances from passers by. Hermione had been right when she had said that the gossip magazines would be publishing something about it all; whenever he walked down the Hogwarts corridors he was almost always certain to come across a student immersed in _Wicked Whispers_, or _Scandal_ _Mag_. The teachers were still all adamant that there was no truth in the ridiculous rumours that had swept the world and were giving out more detentions with every passing day. Harry was, once again, the centre of attention at school. Everyone wanted to talk to him and ask him questions and the picture of Remus and himself – which they all seemed to feel was proof enough that _something_ was going on between the two – was popping up everywhere. Someone, a Slytherin no doubt, had taken the liberty to make copies of the photo and post them up around the school and, try as the teachers might to get rid of them all, more and more kept appearing.

It wasn't just at school where Harry seemed to be the centre of attention. As Voldemort hadn't made a move in quite a while now, the public seemed to be desperately clinging to Harry. Harry was the one who had to win this war for them so any news about their 'saviour' was welcomed with open arms.

"She should be with you shortly," said the witch behind the desk. "If you'd just like to take a seat."

Harry pushed one of the prams over to the crowded waiting area and sat down next to a grumpy looking wizard who had a girl of about 5 sat on his knee. Remus sat down on Harry's other side and wheeled the pram around to try and keep the babies safe from prying eyes.

"They're lovely children," said the wizard next to him. "Look very healthy and happy."

"Thanks," said Harry, trying to manage a smile.

"How old are they now?" he asked, looking down at Skylar who stared back up with twinkling green eyes.

"Six weeks," Harry replied.

"They're lovely at that age," he said, nodding his head. "Enjoy it whilst you can; they soon grow up to become little nightmares. As soon as they hit the terrible twos you'll be wishing they were still six weeks old again, you mark my words."

"How old is yours?" Harry asked, nodding towards the toddler that was now staring fixedly at the little girl across from her who was eating an ice cream with a smug grin, sitting in her mothers lap.

"Almost five now," he sighed. "Toddlers are just awful; very demanding. But," he added fondly, "I wouldn't swap her for anything." He looked back at Harry then nodded towards Remus. "I've heard what they've been saying about you two," he said to Harry. "A load of bull...well, a load of rubbish if you ask me. You'd think the papers would have enough respect for you to leave you alone, especially after everything you've been through. Don't let it get to you lad."

"I try not to," he said with a smile. "But I'm sort of used to it by now."

Before the man could reply, the witch over at the desk called out his name and he and Remus stood up and wheeled the prams around.

"It was nice to meet you," he smiled at the man before departing from the room. They passed the woman with the little girl and Harry felt many pairs of eyes following them. Thankfully, the door was near and he rushed through it and out of sight, Remus right behind him. They followed the witch down a short corridor and turned into a room.

"Mr Potter, lovely to see you again," smiled Healer Neeson as she looked over at them from her desk. She was in her usual lime green robes and her long, red hair was tied back neatly. "And you too Mr Lupin. And how are these little angels?" She got up and peered inside the prams at the two sleeping babies Remus had just wheeled around.

"Fine," said Harry.

"No problems?" she asked, looking up at them.

"No," said Harry. "They've been as good as gold. No problems at all."

"Well, that's really good to hear," she smiled, sitting back down and scribbling something on a piece of parchment. "What about their sleep patterns? Are they sleeping when they should?"

"Yup," Harry smiled. "They don't sleep as much as they used to though, but I figured that's all part of the process."

"Indeed," she smiled. "And how about you two? How are the proud parents getting along?"

"We're ok," said Remus. "We have a babysitter during the day and we alternate shifts during the night if one of the babies is having trouble sleeping. But apart from that, everything's fine."

"And what about you two as a couple?" she asked.

"Well," said Harry slowly, with a small smile at Remus, "We've had our fair share of arguments but we always get back together."

"Well that's only to be expected," she smiled. "A new baby can be a great strain on a relationship, and you've got three. Now," she said, becoming serious again. "How are things in the bedroom?"

"Oh," said Harry slightly flustered at being asked such a personal question all of a sudden. "Things are…well we, erm…we share a bed."

"And?" she prompted.

"And we sleep in it," said Harry. She looked over at them with raised eyebrows.

"We don't really have time for, erm…sex and stuff," Remus muttered.

"Ok," she said, "If you don't mind me asking, when was the last time you two had sex with each other?"

"That would have to be…er…well, the last time we slept together was, erm…it was…"

"When our children were conceived," Remus finished Harry's sentence for him.

"But that was 10 months ago," she said looking slightly shocked.

"I know," said Harry. "We couldn't when I was pregnant because…things were just really complicated. And since the babies have arrived we just haven't had the time, what with my school and Remus's work and looking after the triplets…there's just no time to do…stuff."

"Well we're going to have to change that," she said, turning back to her desk and undoing a draw. She pulled out a small book and looked back at them.

"I want you two to read this," she said, handing it to Remus. "While sex isn't the central part of a relationship, it _is_ important. The book explains it all; you can't afford to wait until the babies are old enough to be left alone for half an hour or so, you can't wait for the right moment; it's about taking any chance you can get, no matter where you might be at the time. You don't even have to have sex; just take some time out to cuddle one another. It's really important you do otherwise your lives are going to become some business routine. Being intimate is _very_ important right now, ok? You need some 'you' time."

"I think we can do that," said Harry looking at Remus, who smiled back at him. "And the Christmas Holidays start next week, it might be easier to find some time."

"There we go," Healer Neeson smiled. "It's working already. Now," she clapped her hands and turned to look at the babies again, "About the werewolf gene."

"You can test them for it, right?" Remus asked.

"Yes, but we're going to need a DNA sample from all of them," she said.

"Can't you use the sample you took from them for the paternity test?" asked Harry.

"I'm afraid not," she told him. "This time we need a blood sample."

"As in, take blood from them?" asked Harry. "Wouldn't that hurt them?"

"Only for a second," she assured him. "We can use magic to numb the pain, don't worry."

"And when will we have the results?" Remus asked.

"In a week," she said. "And as I know you'll both be busy at Hogwarts, I can come over there and tell you in person so there's no hassle."

"And what happens if one of them is positive?" asked Harry. "I heard you had a potion you could give them to make it less likely the gene will become active."

"That is correct," she answered. "Taking the potion once a day reduces the chances of it becoming active by 75. However, that _does_ still leave a 25 chance that the gene will become active if the child contracts a serious illness, God forbid. It also leaves a 25 chance that the gene will be passed on to their children."

"25 is still kind of high," said Remus worriedly.

"But 75 is higher," Harry reassured him. "And even if they do become a werewolf, you'll be there to help them through it as well as the wolfsbane potion."

"I'd really rather they didn't have it at all though," he muttered. "I really don't think I could stand watching my own child go through that."

"We'll do everything we can to help them," said Harry, placing a comforting arm on Remus' shoulder. "We're going to love them no matter what happens. You've learnt to deal with it really well and I'm sure you'd be a great help looking after them if they had it."

Remus didn't say anything but nodded all the same and Harry turned to look back at the Healer who was preparing the needles.

* * *

It had happened again. They just couldn't escape the public eye. Whether they were strolling around the castle grounds or making a visit to the hospital, some one was always going to be watching them. The article that had appeared was pretty much confirmation of that. 

_Could the Professor be the Father? _By Lola Joy

_Yesterday afternoon I myself become witness to the antics of Harry Potter and Remus Lupin. I had been given a tip off from an anonymous source that the 'Chosen One' would be making a visit to _St Mungo's_ hospital along with his new children, so I decided to go undercover. When I arrived there however, I was stunned to see that Mr Potter was once again accompanied by his teacher. I sat and watched from across the waiting room with my niece as the young man engaged in friendly conversation with another father. This may all seem innocent enough but what was Mr Lupin doing there? It has already been revealed that Lupin was in the room with Harry when he gave birth and since that moment we have seen the two exchanging a kiss. Could all of the recent familiarity between the two men suggest that the Professor has a lot more to do with the babies than just playing the 'friendly Uncle'? Watch this space. _

Harry was really starting to become furious. Not only was all of this an invasion of privacy, but it was endangering his children. The world was _more_ than aware that Harry was at the top of Voldemort's most wanted list, they _knew_ that Death Eaters could strike at any moment, so _why_ did they continue to thrust Harry into the lime light? Someone was going to get seriously hurt and, if Harry had anything to do with it, it would be this _Lola Joy_.

"She said she was there," Hermione pointed out. "She said she was witness to it all. Did you see anyone who looked suspicious?"

"The room was full of people," said Harry, "It could have been any one of them."

"Well, we know it was a girl," said Ron thoughtfully, "So it couldn't have been a guy."

"Oh, well done Ron," he muttered sarcastically. "Rocket science, that is."

"Harry," Hermione warned, "We're only trying to help. Don't get so snappy."

"But we're going round in circles," he groaned. "We're not getting anywhere. Besides, weren't you the one that said it was _only_ in the _gossip column_ and that people _wouldn't_ pay that much attention to it?"

"Yes," she said, "But it has gone far beyond that now. It may still be only gossip but it's making headlines. It's all over the front pages of magazines and I even heard someone talking about it on the WWN this morning. I really think it can be classed as main stream news now Harry."

"Well, what the hell am I supposed to do about it?" he snapped. "I can't control what the papers write about."

"Don't you think it's time you thought about giving…"

"No," he said sternly. "I am not giving anyone any interviews, is that clear?"

"But Harry…"

"No," he said. "And that's final. Now, can we please change the subject?"

But as Harry sat and listened to the other two chat about something or other, he knew that _something_ had to be done about it. It had become such a talked about thing that he wouldn't be surprised if the authorities at the Ministry started to take them seriously and that was dangerous territory to get himself into. The last thing he needed was to be dragged up in front of the Ministry and questioned about his love life. Something had to be done, but turning to Rita would be a last resort only.

* * *

**A/N:** Wow! Over 400 reviews! When I started this I never expected this many! Thank you SO much! 

**BUT **next weeks update is going to be late because I'm on a College trip. But as soon as I get back it'll be up and posted.

* * *

**Shadow-Hawk Opal:** When you said Albus/Serverus then...well, I gota bit worried, lol. Don't worry, I plan on bringing Snape into it more. I actually feel like starting a HPSS fic but can't since I haven't the time...bit I do love Sanpe. He's such an interseting character.

**Sophie Malfoy:** Awww, that's so sweet of you tosay.Thank you!

**HoshiHikari:** No, the students didn't see or hear anything, but as you can gather from this chapter the news IS starting to spread. Mwhahaha!

**Faery Goddyss:** lol, you don't sound to sure. I know it's not everyones 'cup of tea' but I'm glad you're intrigued.


	21. The Icing on the Cake

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP

* * *

Chapter 21: The Icing on the Cake

As there was now only one more week to go until the Christmas holidays were upon them, the teachers had decided that what the N.E.W.T students needed was a good, long dose of holiday homework. As Harry was already determined to spend the Christmas holidays wrapped in Remus' arms, he had been working more than ever to complete the work instead of his usual 'leave it to the last minute' approach which he had adopted for the passed 6 years.

Being snowed under with homework, however, meant less time with Remus and the babies. Remus didn't mind too much as he knew that this would enable him to spend more time with the young man during the holidays but the strain was starting to show on Remus as he was practically on his own looking after the triplets when school was over for the day.

"I could ask Sirius to stay for a few more hours," said Harry for the umpteenth time as he lay on his stomach on the living room floor finishing off a Transfiguration essay he had received that very day. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind one bit; he'd be happy to help."

"I'm perfectly capable of looking after my own children, thank you very much," he muttered impatiently. Skylar hadn't eaten since lunch and it was obvious she was hungry. The only problem was she wasn't allowing Remus to feed her. She screamed and cried and flailed her arms and legs in all directions, but she just wouldn't have her feed.

"Just bung her in her cot and leave her for half an hour," said Harry, wincing at the high pitched screaming she was now emitting. "She'll soon shut up."

"You can't just leave her," said Remus sounding scandalized. "She hasn't eaten in hours, she might starve!"

"She won't starve," he said. "When she realises that the only way she is going to be fed is is if she shuts up then she'll soon calm down."

"You know what I think the problem is?" he shouted over the noise. "I think you've babied her too much."

"Well, she _is_ a baby," Harry pointed out.

"But you've spent too much time with her," he tried to explain. "You seem to favour her over the other two and now she's used to having you look after her."

"I do _not_ favour her," said Harry defensively, "I just spend a little bit more time with her, that's all."

"Exactly," said Remus. "When we take them for a walk, you always have Skylar. When we feed them, 8 times out of 10 you feed her, when she cries it's you who cuddles her. You're far too attached to her Harry."

"Well that's because she almost _died_ Remus," he said. "_And_ she's the youngest."

"She's nice and healthy now and she's only the youngest by _7 minutes_."

"But," said Harry with a smile, "She's _still_ the youngest." When Remus didn't look impressed he sighed. "Oh come Remus, are you telling me you haven't got a favourite?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," he said.

"And you don't even favour one of them just the _teensiest_ bit more than the others?"

"Right."

"I don't believe you," said Harry flatly.

"I don't care. I'm not that type of parent who favours one of their children over the other." He turned back to the screaming baby and attempted, once more, to give her her bottle.

"It's Joshua isn't it?" said Harry.

"I love that kid," said Remus. "Have you seen how smart he is? He knows when I enter the room and he always gurgles the same little sound when he sees it's me. And his little eyes," he smiled fondly, "They follow you all over the place. I _swear_ he smiled at me before."

Harry chuckled and turned back to his work. He thought it best not to tell Remus that Sirius favoured Leanna. The fact that Sirius favoured any of their children was sure to rattle the man.

He finished off his Transfiguration essay and pulled over his homework diary which Hermione had gotten him a couple of years before. He opened it and looked down at the next piece of homework he had been assigned to do over the holidays. Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"What is the _point_ in giving me homework?" he asked Remus. "You _know_ I've got more than enough to do as it is."

"Do you want to end up in some dead end job?" Remus said, "Or do you want to be in a job you enjoy?"

"I highly doubt one piece of Christmas homework is going to affect the rest of my life."

"Just do it, smart ass," he laughed but he soon stopped. There had been a flash of fire in mid air and the golden and ruby feather had floated down, this time accompanied by a letter. Holding Skylar firmly in one arm, he retrieved the note and flicked it open. Harry watched the mans face darken as his eyes scanned over whatever was written down.

"I have to go, Order stuff," he informed Harry.

"But you had a meeting the other day," Harry said, pushing himself up so he could look take Skylar out of his arms, "Surely you don't have to go again."

"It's not a meeting," he told him, "They want me to take a look at some muggle Jewellery shop in London. They think some Death Eaters have been in and cursed a few rings – they're trying to get people under the imperious curse without actually cursing them in person. I have to go."

"Well, how long will it take?" asked Harry.

"About an hour or so, depending on what I find there," he said. He flicked his wand and his cloak and briefcase came flying over to him. "I'll be back soon enough."

"Be careful," he said quietly, allowing himself to be kissed softly on the cheek.

"I will," he smiled and he took a handful of powder from a jar on top of the fire and threw it into the flames. Harry had been allowed floo powder in his room but was only allowed to use it in case of an emergency. Even though Ron and Ginny had bothered him countless times to let them use it to sneak into Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, Harry had kept his word; after everything Dumbledore had done for him he wasn't going to disappoint him in using the fire for his enjoyment.

He watched Remus disappear before turning his attention back onto his daughter who, surprisingly enough, had stopped crying now she was in Harry's arms. He smiled to himself and picked up her bottle to feed her.

* * *

_Wedding Bells for The Boy Who Lived? _By Saphira Rose 

_If you haven't heard the recent rumours about Harry Potter then let me bring you up to date. The boy wizard and his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Remus Lupin, have been spending increasing amounts of time in each others company. _

_It has already been revealed that Harry was with Mr Lupin when he gave birth to triplets on the evening of October 24th in St Mungo's hospital in London and since then it has been said that the student and teacher have been pretty much inseparable. _

_We have witnesses at Hogwarts school that have said that they have reason to believe that their Professor has spent quite a few nights in the young mans room as he was seen going in and not leaving until the morning after for work. _

_A month later the pair were seen walking around the school grounds together with the three babies in their prams. As most of us already know, our sources weren't able to hear what was being discussed between the two men but were, however, able to snap a picture of a small kiss being exchanged. _(see picture bottom left)

_Then, just over one week later, our very own Gossip Columnist, Lola Joy, witnessed for herself Mr Potter and Mr Lupin at St Mungo's again with the three children. _

_All of these recent activities have led the nation into suspecting that more than a platonic student-teacher relationship is going on and some are even going as far as saying that the Professor could be the father of Harry's children. _

_And now, let _The Daily Prophet_ be the first to reveal that there may be illegal wedding bells in store for Harry Potter. Lupin was seen yesterday evening inside muggle jewellery shop 'Chanel Fine Jewellery', which is situated on New Bond Street in London. Lola Joy stood by as she watched Lupin look at a wide selection of expensive engagement rings._

"I was just doing some of my everyday shopping when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, what looked like Remus Lupin coming around the corner,"_ Lola Joy, our resident Gossip Columnist told us. _"I followed the man and saw that it was him and I stood there as he went into _Chanel_. I quickly used a disguising charm and entered the shop after him. By then, he was at the counter and asking if he could see some engagement rings."

_This, coupled with the other recent incidents, questions the appropriateness of the pair's intimacy. If Remus Lupin is indeed the father of the children then he could be facing at least 10 years in Azkaban for sleeping with a student, let alone an under aged one. _

_The Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, is aware of the recent accusations but refuses to take any action against 'The Chosen One' and the Professor, believing said accusations to be nothing more than the public's overactive imaginations. _The Daily Prophet_, however, will be making further investigations. _

Harry finished reading the paper and placed in down on the table, looking up at Hermione. It was the next morning and the story about Harry and Remus had finally reached the front page of _The Daily Prophet_.

"What was he doing looking at engagement rings in London?" Ron asked slowly but making sure his voice was quiet.

"Is he really going to purpose?" asked Hermione, shocked. Harry looked at her disbelievingly.

"No," he said, shaking his head seriously. "He was doing Order business. They sent for him last night and told him they needed him to check out some jewellery store in London."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," he said. "Apparently some Death Eaters had cursed quite a few rings and he went to check it out."

"Well," said Ron, trying to sound cheerful, "At least the Minister isn't taking it seriously. At least you know you aren't going to end up in trouble."

"And this Lola person," sniffed Hermione in annoyance. "_'I was just doing some shopping.' _Yeah right! She followed him there more like. I bet she has loads of spies everywhere, just looking for scandal. And besides, whodoes _everyday shopping_ in _New Bond Street_? Please."

"What's in New Bond Street?" asked Ron.

"Loads of expensive designer shops," she said, "Which is why this Lola person can't have been doing _a spot of shopping_. There's no way she earns _that _much working at the _Prophet_. But still," said Hermione, running her hands through her long hair. "I can't believe this. It looks so…well, on top of everything else that they have written about lately…it really does make it look like you guys are…you know? It looks really suspicious, Lupin looking at Chanel engagement rings."

"I know," Harry said incredulously. "If we _were_ going to get engaged I'd want a _Tiffany_ ring, not one from _Chanel_.

* * *

As the day went on, Harry wasn't the least bit surprised to find that the whole school was talking about the so-called 'engagement' between the student and teacher. Harry had lost count of how many times a fellow pupil had walked up to him and demanded to see his hand, leaving somewhat disappointed when they saw that his ring finger was empty. They insisted, however, that Harry _had_ the ring - he just wasn't wearing it at school. 

He was doing his best to ignore them, he really was. To him, the idea of Remus and himself being engaged so soon was laughable and he could not understand why so many people had finally been convinced that something actually _was_ going on; even some of the teachers had pulled him aside to make sure it wasn't true. Harry just couldn't understand them at all.

By the end of the day all Harry wanted to do was lock himself in his room again and shield himself from all the ridiculous questions that were being thrown at him. He was fed up of the silly gossiping and the immaturity of the students. Every time Harry had denied the accusations they had demanded to know why their Professor had been in London looking at rings and Harry had been just about to crack up and tell them when Dumbledore's voice had rung through the castle.

"Could Harry Potter and Remus Lupin please report to my office."

"Oh, you're in for it now Potter," yelled a student from the other end of the corridor. Harry scowled before setting off for the Headmasters office.

He threw the password at the gargoyle and tapped his foot impatiently as the winding staircase ascended slowly. Once at the top, he jumped off and knocked on the door before pushing it open. Dumbledore looked up with a smile and held out his hand.

"Sherbet lemon?"

Harry ignored him and threw himself into the familiar chair in front of the desk. He watched Dumbledore pop one of the sweets into his mouth.

"Remus should be here shortly," he informed Harry and not a moment later the door opened and Remus entered the room. Dumbledore conjured up an extra chair on Harry's right and he sat down. He looked exhausted.

"Sherbet lemon, Remus?"

Remus reached out and took a sweet out of the offered bag and Harry could tell he did this only out of politeness. Once Dumbledore had placed the bag in his desk draw he looked back at the two, straightening his half moon glasses on his crooked nose.

"I believe you both know why you are here," he said. Remus nodded. Harry, however, spoke up.

"Things have gone too far," he complained, trying to keep from shouting. "I haven't had a moments peace since that bloody article appeared this morning and quite frankly I'm getting sick to death of _The Prophet_ writing all this rubbish!"

"Arh, but the first few articles weren't rubbish, were they?" said Dumbledore with an annoying twinkle in his blue eyes.

"They don't _know _they were true," Harry said stubbornly, crossing his arms. "It was all just lucky guesswork."

"Albus, please," Remus said, leaning forwards slightly in his chair, "Can't we just tell the papers that it isn't true and put an end to all of this?"

"I wish we could," the Headmaster sighed, "But they'll want proof and I'm afraid we can't offer them any."

"Can't you just tell them that Remus was on _order business?_" asked Harry, slightly angered by this.

"I'm afraid that isn't an option," he said. "If we tell the papers what Remus was really up to then they'll publish it."

"That's sort of the idea," said Harry as if it was obvious.

"Yes," he said, "But if they publish it then Voldemort will know that we know what he's up to with the jewellery."

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me," muttered Harry, but he knew it was necessary. They had finally got a hold of a piece of Voldemort's plans and they couldn't afford to jeopardise it.

"So you're saying that we just have to live with the fact that the whole world thinks I'm sleeping with Harry?" asked Remus incredulously.

"You _are _sleeping with Harry," Dumbledore said.

"Yeah, but they don't know that," said Remus, thinking it best not to go in to detail about how he and Harry hadn't slept together since the conception of their children.

"But what if they find something else to write about?" asked Harry. "What if things go as far as the Minister getting involved? Can't we tell him then?"

"I'm sorry, but no," Dumbledore shook his head. "You know what the Minister is like; he's hardly any better than Fudge."

"But he _knows _about the Order," said Harry as if trying to reason with his Headmaster.

"But he doesn't know what we know," Dumbledore said. "We can only let him know so much otherwise he'll take over the situation, thinking he knows best. I'm sorry Harry but it has to remain a secret."

"Remus and I could get into big trouble! Remus could get arrested for crying out loud! Are you just going to sit there, knowing _full well_ we are _not _engaged, and let us be brought up in front of the Ministry?"

"Of course I'm not Harry," he said, doing a much better job than Harry at keeping his voice level. "I'm sure we can think up some excuse to pass the whole thing off."

"Like what? I'm sure Voldemort will be able to see through any stupid alibi we decide to give the papers."

"That is why it requires some time and thought," said Dumbledore. "But," he looked at Harry sternly, "In the mean time I want you to keep your head down. Don't give the papers anything to write about."

"Oh, don't worry," he muttered darkly, "They've wrote about everything they could possibly write about already."

But when the next day rolled around Harry was quick to find out that the papers _hadn't_ wrote about everything at all and what was written in _The Daily Prophet_ now was sure to have major side effects.

"_I heard them having sex!" _By Saphira Rose

_After a slightly hectic couple of months for 'The Chosen One' - what with giving birth and then having his forbidden relationship discovered by the public - Harry Potter probably thought the worst was over. However we, at _The Daily Prophet_, have received information that will surely turn the boy-who-lived's life upside down._

_Last night we had a visit from a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who actually caught Harry Potter and his Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, engaging in sexual activities. _

"I was just on my way to Professor Lupin's office to hand in some late work when it happened,"_ the student who, for safety reasons, is going to remain unnamed. _"I knocked on his door but there was no answer so I tried again. When still no one answered I tried the door and found that it was unlocked."

_The student acknowledges the fact that he/she wasn't supposed to be trespassing in a teachers office without permission but insisted that he/she only did it because his/her homework was already overdue as it was and didn't want to end up with a detention._

"I put my work on the desk and turned to go out when I heard noises coming from the other room. I thought it might be Professor Lupin so I went over and was about to knock on the door when I heard another voice in there. I listened for a few moments in case they were intruders but it soon became apparent that the two people in the room were enjoying themselves. I listened a little longer as I didn't want to be mistaken and it was _very_ obvious from the noises that they were making that they were having sex."

_After having heard this, the unnamed student left the room in a hurry, not wanting to be caught by the Professor. He/she didn't, however, return to the common room, but chose to wait in the corridor outside._

"I wanted to see who was with him as I was worried it might have been a student,"_ our source says. _"He's a good teacher so I wanted to make sure he wasn't doing anything illegal; I'd hate to see Professor Lupin in trouble but sometimes you have to do what's right.

I waited for about 10 minutes before the door to his office opened and I was utterly shocked to see Harry Potter walking out of it. He robes were slightly creased and his hair was a mess; there was just no denying what they had been up to."

_When we asked the student about his/her thoughts and feelings of what he/she witnessed he/she said that they 'felt betrayed by Harry as he was someone that everyone looked up to.'_

"I was scared to tell anyone at first but after reading about what _The Daily Prophet_ had found out I knew it was time for me to say something."

_The Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, refused to comment but we have been informed that he is indeed taking action against the boy wizard and his teacher in the near future. _

_Remus Lupin, who was an old friend of Harry's father, James, could be facing a minimum of 10 years in Azkaban on five counts; for sleeping with a student, for sleeping with a minor, for getting a minor pregnant, for continuing a relationship with the student, and for getting engaged to the student. An investigation will be made, but Mr Lupin's chances of getting off look bleak as he has a low employment record and a history of violence whilst he was at the school 23 years ago. Lupin is also a werewolf and, even though it isn't illegal for a werewolf to reproduce, it is frowned upon._

Harry didn't know if his heart had stopped or was just beating so fast that it seemed like it had stopped. He didn't know if the Great Hall had actually fallen silent or if it was just his ears playing a trick on him. He didn't even know if he was awake or if he was stuck in some horrible nightmare. Reality, however, seemed to kick in when he managed to pinch himself hard on the arm and the chatter of the students reached his ears once more and he felt his heart beating frantically in his chest.

He looked around the hall and was relieved, only slightly, to see that most students hadn't read the article yet. It was obvious, however, that some _had_ read it and Harry was prepared to bet the triplets that news would travel _very _fast.

He stood up quickly and, with a meaningful look at Ron and Hermione, left the hall with the other two behind him. He didn't stop until he reached his room, where he finally burst into tears.

"What's happened? What's wrong?" asked Sirius, oblivious to what had appeared in the paper. Hermione handed him the copy of _The Daily Prophet_ and held out her hands to take Leanna from him. She looked over at Ron who was sitting uncomfortably on the sofa next to Harry.

"Hug him," she mouthed silently to him and Ron looked slightly mortified as he looked back at Harry, who now had fat tears leaking down his face. He awkwardly moved closer to Harry and extended his arms. Just as he touched Harry's shoulder, however, Harry cried even more and pulled Ron into a tight hug.

"What are we going to do?" he sobbed loudly. "Remus is going to be arrested and I'm never going to see him again."

"Of course you will," said Ron, trying to help, "He's only going to get arrested for 10 years or so. You'll still be here when he gets out."

Harry cried even louder and Hermione glared at Ron sharply.

"I'm sure everything will be alright Harry," said Hermione, bouncing the baby gently on her hip. "I'm sure Dumbledore will talk to the Minister about it – they won't arrest Remus, I know they won't."

"'Low employment', 'history of violence'," read Sirius, shaking his head. "That's because he's a bloody werewolf; that has nothing to do with his character as a person!"

"But it makes him look bad, doesn't it?" Harry sobbed into Ron's shoulder. "With everything they've published lately…and Dumbledore saying we can't tell them about the jewellery and Voldemort…it looks really bad."

"I'm sure we can find a way out of this," said Sirius comfortingly and he sat down on Harry's other side. Harry loosened his grip on a relieved Ron and leant into Sirius for a hug.

"But we can't," he cried. "Malfoy's told everyone. It's all over."

"Malfoy?" asked Sirius. "Why would Malfoy…?"

"He knows," he told him tearfully, "He has for ages. He said he wouldn't tell anyone if the babies weren't his and they weren't his but he still told."

"If the babies…what? You slept with _Draco Malfoy?_"

"I had to," he sniffed. "He said he'd tell people about Remus and I if I didn't."

"You let him _blackmail_ you into sleeping with him?"

"Not exactly," he said. He sat up and wiped his eyes on his sleeve before continuing. "He may have blackmailed me but I wanted to sleep with him so it's as much as my fault as it is his."

"But Harry…"

"Can we not talk about this please?" he sobbed with pleading eyes, but as he looked at Sirius he remembered something else.

"He knows I slept with you as well," he said and before Sirius could say anything he added, "But I don't know how. He just said he knows. And I don't want a massive lecture on it, please."

Sirius closed his mouth and put his head in his hand and sighed heavily, breaking the silence that had descended after Harry had finished speaking. Hermione shifted slightly and sat down on the opposite sofa, sitting Leanna on her knee. Harry sniffed again and wiped his nose on his robe. Ron just sat still, staring at the paper that was now lying on the coffee table in front of them. There was a click and they all looked up to find Remus standing near the door.

He glared at Sirius when he saw that he had his arm around Harry and bit his lip as if trying to stop himself from speaking his mind. Sirius seemed to take the hint and moved away to sit next to Hermione. Remus sat down.

"We have to do something," said Hermione, obviously wanting to break the uncomfortable silence that had fallen heavily on them.

"But what?" asked Ron.

"I don't know," she muttered distractedly, "Something. Anything."

"Dumbledore told me that the Minister has been in touch with him," Remus informed them all. "He's coming here in two days time to talk to us about the allegations."

"I can't believe he's taking this seriously," said Ron. "After everything that's happened…after all Harry's been through with You-Know-Who…you'd think they'd have some decency wouldn't you? No respect at all…"

"This is _not_ happening," Harry moaned, letting his head rest on Remus' shoulder. But before anyone could think of something else to say about the matter there was a loud, frantic knocking on the door and Ginny burst through looking rather harassed. Out in the common room Harry could hear students shouting and running back and forth.

"Someone better get out here quick," she said to them.

"Why, what's going on?" asked Ron as he stood up.

"The Slytherins are causing trouble, as usual," she told him, "Only this time they've brought it to Gryffindor's front door. Loads of them are out on the corridor throwing water balloons at the younger students and terrorising them; Malfoy in the lead, obviously. It's getting out of ha…"

Her sentence was cut short as Harry pushed roughly passed her and ran out into the common room. Ron, Sirius, and Remus immediately ran after him.

"Here," said Hermione hurriedly, handing the baby girl over to Ginny. "Stay here and look after the kids."

"But I…"

"Stay." And Hermione ran out after them.

Harry pushed his way through the excited crowd of Gryffindor's and scrambled out of the portrait hole to find himself in the midst of a ferocious water balloon fight. He managed to dodge a few loose balloons that had been thrown in his direction and he ran into the middle of the battlefield (half way down the corridor) where the Slytherins were taking cover from Gryffindor fire. He spotted Malfoy surrounded by his cronies and he stormed over to him, pulling out his wand as he went.

"Harry, no!" shouted Hermione over the screaming first and second years who were being pelted with water bombs. At the sound of her voice, Malfoy looked up and saw Harry coming towards him, but before Harry could even reach him he had turned around and was running down the corridor, leaving the 'fight' behind. Harry sprinted after him, closely followed by Remus, Sirius, Ron, and Hermione. They could hear the Gryffindors and Slytherins cheering in the background.

Harry ran as fast as he could, his eyes fixed firmly on Malfoy just a little ahead of him now. He didn't know what he was going to do when he caught him; yell at him, punch him, hex him, Crucio him – it was all the same to him.

Malfoy, who had started to slow down, turned quickly into a door off the corridor and Harry followed him into an empty classroom. Malfoy scrambled over the desks and pressed himself against the wall. Harry slowed down. He had him cornered now.

"Harry, don't do anything stupid," came Remus' voice as the others entered the classroom behind him. "It's just going to mean more trouble."

"He's not worth it Harry," said Sirius. Harry ignored them both.

"Go on," whispered Malfoy, his eyes glinting, "Do it. Curse me, go on."

"Harry, you're stronger than this," said Hermione.

"You know you want to," said Malfoy with a malicious grin. "Just hex me, go on. I deserve it don't I?"

"Harry, don't do it. You'll be in so much trouble if you do."

It was on the tip of his tongue. All he had to say was one simple word and Malfoy would get the pain he deserved. He deserved to be withering around in pain on the floor, he deserved to be screaming for his life. So much had happened in the passed two months that had screwed Harry's life up so much it was almost irreparable. But just when he had thought things might actually start to cool down, _this _had happened. And it was all Malfoy's fault.

Harry slowly lowered his wand and turned around. He was facing the Minister as it was…they were right, Draco wasn't worth it.

"That's it," sneered Malfoy with a contemptuous smile, "Walk away. Go back to letting the wolf man fuck you, you little whore."

It wasn't Harry who went for Malfoy this time, it was Remus. He had lunged at the boy with a growl and Sirius had only just dived forwards in time to fling out an arm to stop him.

"Remus, _no_," he said, "Just ignore him."

"That's right," said Malfoy, "You can't lay a finger on me otherwise I'll talk. I'll tell the whole bloody world all about your secret life as a whore, Potter."

"You better shut up Malfoy, for your own sake," warned Ron.

"_The Daily Prophet_ wants me to give them an interview," Malfoy gloated, "And I have _so_ much more to tell them. Like how their _saviour _slept with his own Godfather then moved on to his teacher. About how you _begged_ me to sleep with you and how you had to settle for one of your room mates instead. You're just a cheap whore with…

"Obliviate!"

Harry watched, with his wand still pointed at him, as Malfoy went soaring across the room and knocked over a couple of desks. Harry was absolutely seething but, in the long run, was immensely glad he had chosen to hit him with the memory loss charm rather than with _Crucio_.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey! I'm back! Sorry I couldn't post sooner, I was away on a College trip for a week then I was really busy and didn't have time to check through this chapter. It's been what...2 weeks since I last updated? Well, I have now so yay!

**PLEASE READ:  
**Some of you are wondering about Voldemort and when he's going to make an appearance. Well, when I first started this fic I didn't intend it to be so long but by putting Voldemort into it it would make it A LOT longer than it is now...but I see why Voldemort should be in since he's a threat to Harry and the children and all...I'm not sure what I'll do about him...I can either put him in here and make it really long or try and put him in some sort of sequel...but I'll need some ideas for that...I do have some whch I intend to but in here but it's nothing to big...and a sequel might be a bit too much...any ideas? Keep in mind that I still have a while to go with this fic so we're not talking about next month or anything like that.


	22. Clever Cover Ups

**Title: **Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings: **RL/HP

* * *

Chapter 22: Clever Cover Ups

In 24 hours the Minister for Magic would be arriving at Hogwarts.

In 24 hours Harry and Remus would be called into the Headmasters office and would be subjected to the Ministers questioning.

In 24 hours Harry would be forced to tell the truth.

In 24 hours Remus could be arrested.

Harry had hoped that Malfoy 'loosing' his memory would help them to convince the Minister that the whole event was just a load of, well, _bullshit_. He had hoped that if Malfoy wasn't able to confirm to the Minister that what he had said to the papers was true then they might be in with a chance of escaping punishment. But things still looked pretty awful.

"The Minister will recognise the symptoms straight away," said Hermione knowledgably, "He'll know that someone has wiped his memory of the whole thing and therefore will take that to mean that what he said previously _was_ true."

"Well I think it's a good thing that Harry wiped his memory," said Ron. "He won't remember anything about it and can't cause any further harm."

"But there's still the question of what to do tomorrow," said Sirius.

"We need a plan of sorts," said Harry, trying to think, "Something to do with Malfoy – he's the one who told the papers so he'll have to be the one to…I dunno…_un_tell them I guess."

"We could always put him under the Imperious curse, I suppose," said Ron.

"Ron, that's…"

"Illegal," he finished her sentence in a bored voice, "Yes, I know Hermione. You got any better ideas?"

"Well, if I had we wouldn't be sitting here talking about ideas, would we?" she snapped.

"Ok, ok," he muttered. There was stillness as they all sat around the living room, lost in thought. Harry sighed with frustration. Nothing they did seemed to work properly nowadays. It was impossible to just get on with ones life. Obliterating Malfoy of the whole event had only helped in the short term – he wasn't able to confirm his tale or tell anymore to anyone, but once the Minister realised the symptoms he would undoubtedly try and break through the memory spell, eager to hear what Malfoy had to say. There was no way on Earth they were going to think of a cover up story in less than 24 hours…

"I've got it!" squeaked Hermione and they all looked up expectantly. "A controlling potion!"

"Isn't that the same as the Imperious curse?" Harry frowned.

"Of course it isn't," she said with irritation, "Don't you listen in Potions?"

Harry looked at her blankly and she huffed in annoyance.

"You give the drinker instructions, a sort of story to say, and he has to do it," she explained. "The Imperious curse gets people to _do anything_, the controlling potion only gets people to _confess_ – or, in most cases, to confess to things they _haven't_ done. They have to say whatever the giver of the potion tells them to say."

"Well that's great," smiled Remus.

"But what happens when it wears off?" asked Sirius.

"The drinker doesn't remember having taken the potion. He'll just assume that whatever he said under the influence of the potion was actually true. You could tell him he was the King of England and he would believe it forever."

"It sounds perfect, where do we get one?"

"I still have mine from the other week," she smiled, "We were making them in Potions the day Harry went into labour, remember?"

"Oh yeah," said Harry, cheered by this news, but then he was struck by another thought. "Wait, how do we get Malfoy to drink it? We can't exactly force feed it him can we? That would be a _tad_ suspicious."

"Maybe if you guys get to the Great Hall early tomorrow morning you could put it in his drink or something?" suggested Sirius.

"But what if someone else drinks it?" asked Remus, who, for now being, had put aside his differences with Sirius to concentrate on the situation at hand, "You can't be sure which is his drink."

"Maybe if we labelled the potion or something?" said Ron, scratching his head, "You know? Say it's from his mum or someone?"

"He'd know her handwriting though, wouldn't he?" Harry pointed out.

"Oh yeah…Hey, we could get Dean to forge it; he's great at forging signatures and stuff."

"But he doesn't know what her handwriting looks like," said Sirius. "But the forging someone's writing thing sounds good, we just need to think of someone who Malfoy trusts enough to drink a potion from."

"Crabbe? Or maybe Goyle?" Ron suggested but Hermione shook her head.

"Those two are way too thick to be able to make a potion."

"How about Snape?" said Harry. "He trusts him doesn't he?"

"Hey, that might work," smiled Ron, looking at Harry. "He could say it was for protection against the Dark Lord or something. I mean, I know Malfoy's probably on the Dark Side but everyone's scared of You-Know-Who aren't they? Especially the Death Eaters."

"And Dean could forge Snape's handwriting," said Remus.

"Right, that settles it then," said Hermione. "I'll go and get Dean, excuse me."

After swearing that he wouldn't tell anyone what they were up to, Dean wrote the note (as a sort of 'thank you' to Harry for not telling people what had happened between them) and Hermione stuck it on the side of the potion vial ready to be delivered to Malfoy. The plan was to get down to breakfast early and set it on the table in Malfoy's usual place. They had thought about posting it to him but as all the mail was still being checked, they were sure the potion would take a while to get through and would also raise dangerous questions as to why Snape was sending one of his students a controlling potion.

They had decided that it was best if one of them went down in the invisibility cloak and placed it on the table in case someone spotted them leaving the hall. They also needed to make sure that Malfoy stayed away from Snape and to do that they would have to cause a diversion down in the dungeons to stop Snape entering the Great Hall before the potion had been drunk.

Harry was far too aware that there were so many things that could go drastically wrong with this plan, but as it was their only hope he had no choice but to go along with it.

* * *

Harry awoke on Thursday morning with a horrible weight already formed in the pit of his stomach. At the end of school today, the Minister for Magic would be paying them a visit and if the plan failed then they were doomed. 

He rolled out of bed and padded into the living room to find Remus sitting on the sofa and staring pensively into the fire. Despite the light hitting them, Remus' amber eyes were dull and the lines on his face were dark. Harry sighed and shuffled over to the sofa where he seated himself down.

"Did you get much sleep?" he asked him softly, taking in Remus' weary appearance. Remus grunted in a non-committed way.

"You alright?" Harry asked, reaching out a hand and stroking a lock of hair out of Remus' face. He knew it was a stupid question to ask as he was facing a possible jail sentence today but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

Remus seemed to come out of a reverie and he looked at Harry as if he had only just noticed he was in the room.

"I'm fine," he said with a small smile, which Harry could tell was more or less forced.

"No you're not," said Harry quietly, "And I don't blame you; Azkaban is a scary place, with or without the Dementor's. But they can't punish us for being in love."

Remus swallowed and turned back to look at the glowing fire again and, once more, the light didn't meet his eyes.

"It'll be ok," said Harry, placing an arm on Remus' shoulder, "You'll see. Once all this is over we can get back to normal again."

He stood up and shuffled off to the kitchen to prepare the babies bottles and found that they were already laid out on the kitchen side.

"I wanted to do them," said Remus, still looking into the fire. "I've never done it before and I wanted to do it once before I…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Remus!" Harry warned. He knew Remus was nervous about what the day might hold for them but he couldn't deal with comforting him right now; he himself was nervous to and he didn't want anything to distract him from what he had to do at breakfast.

They were both silent as they went about their normal morning routine which gave Harry time to think the plan over once again. If they weren't able to stop Malfoy from talking to the Minister when called upon then they wouldn't be able to get out of the situation they had unfortunately found themselves in. And every time Harry thought of this he felt the now-familiar anger bubble violently inside him. Was he never going to have any peace? If the press kept up the way they were going, they were going to drive Harry into an early grave, never mind Voldemort.

As Voldemort entered his mind, his thoughts turned to the Dark Lord. Harry could just imagine him, sitting on a golden throne and reading the papers…_I bet he's finding this hilarious_, Harry thought miserably.

By the time Sirius arrived, Harry was more than ready to get things over and done with. Without a word to Remus, who was still sulking in front of the fire, he grabbed the potion vial off the side, threw on his invisibility cloak and departed.

* * *

"Did you do it?" Ron asked the moment he sat down to breakfast at the Gryffindor table, shortly followed by Hermione. Harry nodded slowly and he saw their eyes flicker over to the Slytherin table where a small vial stood at Malfoy's usual place. Harry chanced a look over his shoulder as well. The table was slowly filling up and the Slytherins were all casting looks at the potion but none were daring to go near it. 

"Perfect," smiled Hermione, "They won't dare to touch it when they know it's for Malfoy." She turned back to her breakfast and scooped some sugar onto her cereals. "What about Snape?"

"Remus is working on that," Harry informed her.

"So all we need now is for the ferret boy to drink it," said Ron. The words were barely out of his mouth when Malfoy, followed by Crabbe and Goyle, swaggered into the Hall and seated himself down at his table. Harry didn't dare turn around to watch as it might give the whole thing away so he busied himself with pouring everyone a drink instead.

"He's reading the note," muttered Hermione from across the table.

"He's picking it up," said Ron, "I think he's going to drink…hang on, he's pulling out his wand!"

"Don't worry," said Hermione quickly, "I charmed it with disguising charms; he won't be able to tell what the potion really is and he won't be able to detect to charm I placed on it either, not if he doesn't do the proper spell anyway."

"And if he does?" asked Harry. "If he discovers that it was charmed?"

"Well it doesn't look like that's going to happen does it?" smiled Hermione triumphantly. "He's drank it."

"Gullible little sod that he is," muttered Ron. "I mean, who would drink a potion left out for them in a public place?"

"Someone who's desperate for protection?" offered Hermione. She went back to her breakfast as more students filed in and picked up the copy of the paper that the owls had brought in.

"Malfoy's such a weird person, don't you think?" said Ron, absently stirring the spoon in the sugar bowl."

"How so?" asked Hermione, eyes still fixed on the print in front of her.

"Well," he said, "I don't know exactly…I mean, I do, but I can't explain it…it's just, well, he acts all hard doesn't he, and gloats about you-know-who all the time? But now he's drinking things which will 'protect' him from him, you know? And we still don't know how he found out about Harry and Sirius yet do we? Or what he was really doing in Remus' office that time when he heard…well…"

"He has a point Hermione," said Harry, frowning slightly. "He's definitely up to something he shouldn't be."

"Well how do you suppose we find out?" she said, lowering the paper to cast a glare at Harry, "We can't exactly find out now that he's lost that bit of his memory, can we?"

"Will you stop going on about that? I thought we agreed it was a _good_ thing I Obliviated him?"

"Yeah," said Ron, "Besides, even if Harry hadn't we still wouldn't be able to find out – in case you haven't noticed, none of us can to Legimency."

"Remus can," she pointed out with a smug smile.

"Even so," said Ron, "When would he ever get the chance to use it on him? And I'm sure Harry mentioned something about Malfoy having learnt Occlumency last year from Bellatrix."

"A strong Legimens would be able to break…"

"Will you two stop it?" Harry groaned, "Can you save this argument for another day? We've got more important things to worry about right now."

They both muttered a quiet apology to Harry and turned back to there breakfasts but Harry soon found he didn't like the silence – it gave him too much time to think and he didn't want to right now – so he was glad when Ron spoke up again.

"Not that this plan isn't brilliant or anything," he said, "But how are you going to get him alone to give him the orders?"

"I'll think of a way," said Hermione.

"Anything in there?" asked Harry, nodding towards the paper she was flicking through.

"Not really," she said, "Just a small piece telling everyone how the Minister is going to be coming here today to talk to you and Professor Lupin." She folded up the paper and placed it down on the table in front of the juice jug. "Don't worry," she smiled. "With this plan, nothing can go wrong. They can't prove a thing."

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the day constantly going over the plan in his head. Hermione had succeeded in cornering Malfoy and had given him instructions to tell the Minister (and everyone else) that he had made it all up; he had never heard Harry and Remus 'at it'. But Harry was still immensely nervous. 

He had lost track of the amount of times he had gotten shouted at during the day for not paying attention in class. The last time it had happened he had caused Mcgonagall's hat fly off her head and to chase her around the classroom. Fortunately, she had taken pity on him and he had avoided detention.

Time went by way too fast for his liking. The moment he had gotten out of Herbology, where he had accidentally caused one of the Sleeping Sapling plants to explode, covering them all in green goo, Dumbledore's voice rang across the grounds requesting Harry and Remus' presence in his office. His friends wished him luck and he set off towards the castle.

He entered the office and slowly closed the door behind him before looking up. Dumbledore was sat behind his desk in his usual place beaming over at him; Mcgonagall was stood besides him and she briefly nodded at Harry before he let his eyes travel over the rest of the congregation which was made up of the Minister, who was looking smugly down at him, and Sirius, who was sat by the bookshelf. Before Harry had time to start panicking about the whereabouts of his children however, he spotted three baby baskets lying on the floor between Sirius and Mcgonagall.

"Good Afternoon Mr Potter," the Minister greeted him, although his eyes were anything but polite; he was hardly any different from Fudge. Harry didn't greet him back. He walked over to Dumbledore's desk and sat down, trying to forget his last meeting he had had with the Minister last Christmas.

"We'll just wait for Professor Lupin and then we shall begin," the Minister informed him and Harry could tell by the tone of his voice that he was itching to start throwing the familiar accusations left, right, and centre.

They sat in silence for some time, the rustle of the Ministers robes audible as he shuffled from one foot to the other from time to time. Harry could tell he was anxious to begin but was probably slightly nervous, what with the extra company they had and Harry had to wonder why Sirius and Mcgonagall were here with them. Dumbledore had obviously called them, but why? For moral support for Harry perhaps? And why were his children here?

The office door opened and Remus stepped in and smiled briefly at the Headmaster.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, coming in and taking his seat.

"Not a problem at all," he smiled. "Rufus, would you like a seat?"

"No thank you Albus," he said stiffly, "I don't intend to be here long. If these two don't wish to cooperate civilly then I'll just bring them in. I haven't got time to be here all day trying to get to the bottom of things."

"Then why are you here at all?" asked Mcgonagall. "Surely you can see that these allegations and just silly rumours thought up by your silly, little paper."

"But these 'silly rumours' have grown quite serious over the last couple of days and I'd sincerely like to know the meaning of all of this." He turned to look at Harry and Remus and continued. "Tell me, would one of you care to explain?"

"They're not true," said Harry. "It's just the stupid paper making up rubbish again."

"But we have _eye witnesses_," he said. "They saw you both walking the children together in these very grounds and sharing a hug."

"Because we're friends," said Remus simply.

"Harry kissed you," he insisted.

"On the cheek," said Harry. "Would you like one as well?"

Sirius snickered and Dumbledore grinned but the Minister ignored them all.

"But you were both seen at the Hospital with the children," he pressed on.

"Minister," said Harry, "I have three children. Do you seriously think that I can look after them all on my own? Why the hell would I go to the Hospital on my own when Voldemort's after me? Remus helps me – it's called being a _friend._"

"But what about what Mr Malfoy said?" he asked accusingly.

"Oh come on!" cried Remus, "You really think Malfoy would tell the truth about something like this?"

"Yes, actually, I do," he said. "The Malfoy's are a well-respected family."

"They're a bunch of Death Eaters!" cried Harry.

"But they have always been very generous towards the Ministry," he said.

"It's called a 'cover-up'," Remus pointed out.

"We have no reason to believe that young Mr Malfoy has followed in his father's footsteps."

"You're bloody delusional then," muttered Harry but thankfully the Minister chose to ignore it.

"Send for Draco Malfoy would you?" he said to Dumbledore who bowed his head politely before pulling a magical device towards him, which Harry presumed was the speaker.

"Why does he have to be here?" asked Harry disgustedly as Dumbledore spoke into the device and summoned Malfoy to his office.

"So I can ask him, in person, about his account of the whole incident," he replied with a smirk.

"I can't believe you're taking this seriously," muttered Remus. "Why would I sleep with a student?"

"You tell me," said the Minister. Remus ignored him and turned away. A tense silence followed. The babies seemed to be growing restless and Harry wasn't the only one to notice the little sobs they were beginning to make. Mcgonagall smiled fondly down at Leanna before looking to Harry for permission to pick her up, which Harry allowed.

The door to the office opened once more and Malfoy swaggered in. He looked slightly nervous as he was greeted by so many people. Harry prayed to Merlin that their plan would work. If they had made just the _smallest_ mistake with the potion then Harry might as well say goodbye to Remus here and now.

"What's going on?" he asked the Minister innocently.

"I just wanted to ask you about what you told the papers, Draco," said the Minister kindly. "It was, of course, the truth?"

"Oh," said Malfoy and he looked down to avoid the Ministers eyes. "Well, you see, the thing is…"

"Yes?"

"Well, it's not _really_ the entire truth…"

"What do you mean?" The Minister seemed slightly startled.

"Look, ok," said Malfoy looking up at the Minister again, "I don't like Potter so I wanted to get him into trouble, ok? He never slept with Lupin."

"You foolish boy!"

"Minister, please," said Mcgonagall sounding slightly scandalized, "Keep your voice down around the children."

The Minister gave her an annoyed look but lowered his voice to an acid whisper.

"Do you have any idea of what you have done?"

"Caused a world wide scandal?" Malfoy asked with a smile.

"Get out of my sight! Now!"

As Malfoy exited the room the Minister turned back to Harry and Remus.

"But the engagement ring!" he shouted. "You can't deny that! Lupin was seen looking at the rings! Why would he do that if not to propose?"

For the moment, the room was silent and Harry could have sworn that his frantic heart beat was giving him away. They had been too concerned about Malfoy and the potion to think about the excuse they had to give to wave away the ring incident. Harry looked to Dumbledore who looked back apologetically; he too hadn't thought of an excuse. Mcgonagall was looking somewhat offended at the Ministers loud tone of voice again but seemed to be suspicious of the guilty silence that surrounded them. The Ministers grin grew and his eyes brightened but before he could rejoice in the fact that he had caught them out, Sirius stepped forwards.

"The ring was for me," he said and everyone's heads snapped around to look at him. Harry tried to keep his face impassive.

"For you?" asked the Minister.

"Yes," he said. "Remus and I have been dating for quite some time now and we decided that the time had come for us to tie the knot. Isn't that right Rem?"

Everyone's heads swivelled round to look at Remus who managed to hide his confusion and shock just in time.

"Yes," he said automatically, "Yes, it is. The ring you saw me looking at was for Sirius. We weren't going to tell anyone yet though so…surprise."

"Congratulations!" Dumbledore smiled.

"I hope you two are very happy together," said Mcgonagall who, bless her, still looked like she had missed something crucial.

"Thank you," smiled Sirius and he placed an arm around Remus' waist. "We would have told you sooner but…what with everything going on…"

"Understandable," said Dumbledore kindly. "Well, this is a happy day. Harry and Remus are innocent and Remus and Sirius are getting married. This calls for a celebration. Rufus, would you care for a drink?"

"Er, no thank you Albus," he muttered, "I best be getting back. Er…sorry about the erm…"

"The accusations?" offered Harry. "So you should be."

"Right, well, I best be off."

A sigh of relief seemed to fill the room as soon as the Minister had closed the door and they all looked about one another.

"Well," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye, "That _was_ interesting."

"Very," said Mcgonagall looking over at Sirius and Remus who had let go of one another now that the Minister had gone. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you four were up to something."

"Nonsense Minerva," smiled Dumbledore, "This day is turning out to be as surprising for me as it is for you my dear. Sherbet Lemon anyone?"

* * *

"How did it go?" asked Hermione the moment they had all returned to Harry's rooms. 

"Perfect," smiled Harry, sitting down on the sofa next to her, "It couldn't have gone any better. That potion worked like a dream."

"It saved my life Hermione," Remus smiled gratefully. "And you Sirius," he said, turning to face him, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he said. "It was the least I could do."

"But I've been so horrible to you lately. Why did you do that for me when you could have left me to go to Azkaban."

"No matter how mad I am at you, no one deserves that place," he said with a small smile. "And because, you know, you're still my best friend despite everything that's happened between us lately."

"What happened?" asked Ron as Remus got up and embraced Sirius in a hug.

"Sirius said that the engagement ring was for him," Harry informed them.

"So the Minister thinks Sirius and Remus are getting married now?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "But I'd rather them all think that than have Remus locked up, wouldn't you?"

"So," said Sirius as they both pulled out of the hug, "Does this mean that you forgive me?"

"Only if you forgive me," he smiled.

"Of course I forgive you Rem," he smiled brightly, "You're my best friend, I'm not losing you again."

"Well," smiled Ron, "This is a happy day. Drinks all around."

* * *

**A/N:** I apologise for this chapter being a bit poo. I had to go over it a million and one times and I still didn't manage to get it how I wanted it to go. But I have now reached the end of all the chapters I had already typed up so inbetween updates I'm probably going to be typing the next chapter. 

Updates might be a little longer than usual due to the fact that I'm SNOWED UNDER with coursework so I'm typign when I can now. But they shouldn't take longer than 2 weeks and once I have more written I can go back to doing a post every week again.

Anwyays, I seem to have written chapters all over the place. Currently, I have half of chapter 23 done, half of chapter 25 and 26, but no 24 because I seem to have developed writers block and Christmasy-type chapters, which is strange since it's almost Christmas time now and you'd think I'd be all inspired by that, but no. Oh well...

But I'm really enjoying writing chapters 25 and 26 - which were inspired by an idea **Shadow Vampiress** in her last review (so if you don't want spoilers then don't read her review!). I'd actually thought of doing something along the same lines before but now I really like the idea and (not that I'm gloating) I kind of like the way I've done it...but that's not for another 2 or 3 chapters yet.

Again, I apologise for such a crappy chapter and for a long authors note. And I promise the next chapters will be more entertaining. Well, I can't really say anything for chapters 23 and 24 since they don't really exist that much yet but...yeah...

**Random Question:** Does anyone watch **Lost?** If so, are America already on the second series? Coz we're still stuck on the first. I love that show. Sawyer rules!

And one last thing...EEK! The new Harry Potter film just advertised on TV! Can't wait 'til Friday! Does anyone have any idea just WHY Harry, Ron, and Hermione look like thy're sky diving in the trailer by the way? And is anyone still actually reading this A/N? If so, Congratulations for putting up with my rambling for so long!


	23. It's Not Regret

**Title:** Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be 

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings:** RL/HP

* * *

**A/N: **OMG! What's this? It's...it's...it's an UPDATE! This chapter is NOT good, just thought I'd warn you. Explanations at the bottom.

* * *

**Chapter 23: It's Not Regret**

Harry flung the last baby towel he could find into the bag and straighten up, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. Packing was a lot harder than he remembered. But then again, he was taking care of three little people as well as himself so that was to be expected.

He levitated the trunks over to the front door, dropped the bag on top of them, and flopped down into the welcoming comfort of the sofa. It had taken him almost _three hours _to get everything packed away neatly. After he had _finally_ found all the tiny shoes and gloves that had somehow managed to end up in cupboards and down the sides of chairs, he had had to make sure that all the 'important baby stuff' was packed last so he could just reach in to the trunks and get it in case of baby emergencies. After that was all done it was time to pack the baby bag full of instant milk, bottles, fresh nappies, and teddy bears.

Remus would have helped, naturally, but he had been so grateful for what Sirius had done (the pretend engagement) and was so happy to have his best friend back that he had gone over to Sirius' to thank him and make him one of the Godparents to all three babies.

Harry and Remus had talked about it late into the night and had decided that the babies should have the traditional three Godparents each. For Leanna they would have Mcgonagall, Dumbledore, and Sirius; Joshua would be a Godson to Ron and Hermione, as well as Sirius, and Skylar would have Sirius, Molly and Arthur. Harry secretly knew in his heart that if anything (God forbid) _did_ happen to Remus and himself then the children would go to Sirius – naming Dumbledore and Mcgonagall Godparents had been Remus' idea and was out of politeness and was meant as a big thank you for all they had done for him over the years. Harry agreed with this but knew that the babies were going to grow and see them as grandparents rather than godparents. Besides, they were too old to look after children. But all the same, it was a nice gesture and they had appreciated it.

Ron and Hermione, undoubtedly, would leave Hogwarts, get married, and populate the world with more Weasley's than was entirely necessary and would therefore have far too many children of their own to be able to cope with Joshua. Of course, they were both ecstatic when Harry had asked them and he knew they would do all they could to care for him, but Harry was just thinking realistically and was glad that Sirius was there 'just in case'.

As for Molly and Arthur, that had been a gesture on Harry's behalf to say a huge thank you for everything they had helped him through since the day he had met them. Obviously, they both had plenty of experience with bringing up children but Harry didn't really want to land them with another child when they had finally gotten rid of all their own. Nah, Harry knew that if anything happened to them, the babies would all go straight to Sirius.

All in all, it was a lot more trouble than it was worth.

So…Harry flung himself down into the comfort of the sofa and closed his eyes, glad of the moment for peace and quiet. Before Remus had left he had told Harry to leave all the packing to him and he would do it after he got back from Sirius's, but the babies had been sleeping so peacefully all day that Harry just hadn't been able to sit still any longer and had started to pack their things up for Christmas. He still cringed inside when he remembered all the Christmas shopping he still had to do and there was only one week to go. He made his mind up there and then that as soon as he got settled back into Grimmauld Place tomorrow, he would drag Ron and Hermione out with him to London.

There was a knock at the door and it clicked open. As soon as he saw Hermione come in he knew she was in a mood. Her hair was more dishevelled than usual and she had angry red blotches in her cheeks. She dropped down besides Harry and huffed.

"What's up?" Harry asked, sensing that he was going to get no peace.

"Ron," she said, crossing her arms.

"What's he done now?" he asked with a sigh.

"Nothing," she said crossly, "Absolutely nothing."

"Then why are you…"

"I mean he's done _nothing_," she stressed. "He left me to do _all_ his packing because he had a late Potions assignment to finish, then he got me to do the bloody essay because he remembered he had detention with Mcgonagall. The first years are all hyped up on sweets, the fifth years won't stop complaining about the amount of O.W.L revision they're been given, and Lavender's _far_ too emotional about the fact that she has to leave her beloved Seamus for three weeks. It's driving me _insane!_"

"So it's not just _Ron_ then," said Harry, leaning back.

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm throwing all this at you," she said, her mood softening, "It's just this sort of thing happens almost every year and, well, it's our last year…I just want it to be perfect. I don't want to look back on it and feel angry."

"Christmas only happens once a year," he smiled. "I'm sure by the time June arrives you'll be in tears 'cause you don't want to leave."

"Yeah, well, I'm not so sure," she muttered darkly, which was so unlike her that Harry had to look back at her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Harry," she said in all seriousness, "Have you actually given any thought as to what you're going to do once you leave Hogwarts?"

"Well I _did_ have a plan," he told her, "After I'd laid the smack down on Voldemort's ass, I was going to get a nice place somewhere in the city and train to be an Auror. But now…" he trailed off, picking at a thread on the sofa.

"And now?" Hermione prompted him.

"Now, well…I have three kids to look after don't I? I can kiss work goodbye for the time being. But I know Remus isn't going to leave me so we'll probably just get a place somewhere in the country, away from everything, and…I dunno…"

"But what about money?" she pressed.

"I have plenty of that in the bank to get the five of us by nicely enough for a few years of so," he said, "Plus Remus is going to carry on working here isn't he?"

"But if he's working here then that leaves you on your own to raise three children."

"But he's going to be coming home every night," said Harry, not really wanting to talk about the future.

"With all the work he'll have to do? Harry, he'll need to be here for the students," she said.

"Then I'll move here!" he shouted. He wasn't aware of having stood up but when he looked around he found himself on his feet. He shook his head and muttered an apology before moving off to the kitchen and he heard Hermione follow him.

"It's me who should be apologising," she said softly, "I shouldn't have pressed the matter."

"It's ok," he muttered. "It's just that this is our last year here and I'm dreading it ending. I know we're all going to stay in touch with one another but…I don't know…it'll be different…no more getting up early for classes, no more wars between the houses, hell, I'll even miss Snape giving me detentions every 10 minutes," he laughed.

"Yeah," she sighed, "I guess I'll miss watching him yell at you too. When we get back in January we have to make sure we enjoy ourselves more than usual."

"Would be a hell of a lot easier if I didn't have the triplets," he sighed.

"Harry, you know you love them more than anything," she smiled, although Harry could have sworn he had seen a flicker of worry cross her face at his words. He reached for a glass off the side and put it under the tap to fill it with water but he didn't answer.

"Harry?"

He took a sip of the drink and looked at her again with a sigh. "Of course I love them," he told her, "I just sometimes wish that…things were different…I haven't had a lot of spare time recently have I? And they're brought me loads of trouble from the Ministry."

"But they mean everything to you," said Hermione as if she were trying to remind Harry of this.

"Of course they do," he said again, "But sometimes I just wish that they weren't here…not that I don't want them!" he added quickly, seeing Hermione's eyes grow wide, "I'd just rather they'd been born in a few years time rather than _now_. I'm 17 Hermione, I'm still in school, still studying and learning…still got the whole Voldemort thing looming over my shoulder…I miss my _life_."

He drained the glass and put it in the sink before turning around and heading back out into the living room. He felt a tremendous amount of guilt about saying these things but he realised that, as he said them, as they formed coherently in his mind, he knew them to be true and it hurt terribly to know that.

"You don't mean that Harry," she said, "I know you don't. You love them so much, anyone can see that."

"I'm not saying I don't love them," he told her, "Because I do – they're my flesh and blood, how can I not? I'm just saying that…well, the Christmas Holidays are making me realise how much of my life I'm missing out on. I mean, I have to arrange for myself to spend time with Remus when I should be doing it naturally, you know?"

"But I've watched you care for them so lovingly for the past two months," she said.

"_Because they're mine_," he said, trying to make her see what he was struggling to say. "Obviously I feel a huge responsibility for them and I don't want any harm to come to them, I love them _so _much…I just wish that all this baby stuff could have happened later on, not now, not when I need to enjoy my youth. We're leaving school Hermione, we're never gonna get this experience back."

She had been sat silently through all of this, watching Harry's face shine with emotion. She knew how much this was hurting him to say it but it was obvious he needed to say it otherwise all he would have would be these thoughts pounding in his head.

He sat back down now with his head in his hands, a glimmer of tears building in his eyes but he didn't give way to them. He ran his hands through his hair and sat back, biting his bottom lip. He was over tired, he knew he was. He was stressed and exhausted from all the different emotions that had took over him since the birth of his beloved children. He knew he'd worked himself too hard, knew he'd worried too much, and now all these feelings were coming to the surface in a brutal way that made him feel enormous guilt.

"The Christmas Holidays are going to do you a world of good," smiled Hermione, breaking the silence. "You're going to get lots of well-needed rest and a nice, long, _well-deserved_ break. Everyone in that house is going to be only too pleased to look after the little ones whilst you and Remus get some quality time together. Now, I know what you're saying and I understand…you were robbed of a proper childhood and you desperately carve these teenage years. But you can still have them. I'm here and so are Ron and Ginny and Sirius and Dumbledore. We're _all here_ and wouldn't mind one bit if you left us in charge of the little darlings for a few hours a day. I know you say you don't want to miss this experience and we won't let you miss. But don't forget that your experiencing parenthood and you have yet to hear your children's first words and watch their first steps. And that, Harry, is going to be a magical experience."

* * *

Harry lay in bed that night with his mind still stuck on what Hermione had said to him. She was right of course; she was always right when she made big, dramatic speeches like that. He did long for the day when Skylar would call him 'daddy' and when Joshua would be able to fetch his favourite teddy from the floor where he so often threw it. He even longed for the day when Leanna would learn to walk, even if it did mean that she would be a constant nuisance. They were his children, he and Remus had made them (unintentionally) out of love and parenthood was defiantly one hell of an experience and he still had it all to come.

He heard Remus get into bed and he rolled over slightly to receive his kiss goodnight before snuggling back down into the covers, Remus' hand snaking around his waist and holding him lovingly.

He sighed deeply. Tomorrow they were going home on the train for Christmas and it was inevitable that the triplets were going to be playing up. And Harry was looking forward to every moment of it.

* * *

**A/N:** I am so SORRY! I know most of you have heard vis private messages and review replies and I did put a little thingy in my profile. But here it is again for those you I couldn't reach: My computer broke, I couldn't even turn the bloody thing on. So I had to wait until after Christmas to get a new one, but then I realised that I hadn't save my work on to any devices so I real trouble writing this chapter coz I'd completly lost the thread. Then I had loads of coursework to do (still have but its half term so I have all week now), then I got really ill. BUT I managed to produce something in the end. I promise the next chapters are going to be longer and better coz I'm picking up the thread again. I'm so annoyed, I had such a cool chapter written for chapter 26 but its gone! ARGH!

But I'm back again. Thank you all so much for sticking with me and I hope you're not too mad.

-hides in corner and prays for lovely reviewers to come back-

Review? Please?


	24. The Christmas Rush

**Title:** Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author:** SweetMercy

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings:** RL/HP

* * *

**Chapter 24: The Christmas Rush **

The Hogwarts Express slowed down and turned into Kings Cross, the magical platform barely visible through the torrential rain hammering on the carriage windows. Blurred figures of all different colours could be seen gathered on the platform, awaiting the arrival of their children.

Feet could be heard running up and down the corridor outside, students hurriedly running back to their compartments to collect their things. When they had boarded the train back in Hogsmeade, Hermione had had to shut the blinds to their compartment due to the number of people looking in at the babies as if it were some sort of show. Now, Harry had dealt with similar things himself and had just learnt to deal with it, but he was very protective when it came to his children. He had just been about to tell them all where to get off when Ron had stopped him, saying it would only cause more trouble rather than do any good. The fact that _Ron_ had said this surprised him more than it angered him to know that people thought they had a right to stare at his children so he quickly dropped the matter to ponder how much he should be worried by the fact that Ron was starting to turn into Hermione.

The babies had been on their best behaviour for the best part of the journey, only kicking up a fuss when they felt they should be getting more attention than they were. Even though they were only two months old, Harry had the extreme impression that Leanna was a complete drama-queen already, loving the attention and adoration and very prone to having what Ginny liked to call 'hissy fits.'

Having spent most of his day cooped up with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Neville, and the triplets, chatting, changing nappies, playing cards, feeding hungry babies, laughing and joking, and comforting the little ones, Harry had almost forgot his 'confession' of sorts from yesterday. Every now and then his eyes would meet Hermione's and he would have to look away, refusing to let the guilt consume him. He loved his children with all of his heart, it was just that sometimes he wished all this could have waited a few years; what was so wrong with that?

He hadn't had very long to speak to Remus this morning as the train was leaving early and he had more luggage than everyone else to get downstairs and even with magic it took longer than the others. But he would see him tomorrow – teachers were allowed to floo home during the Holidays unlike students who, unless special circumstances arose, had to take the train journey all the way from one end of the UK to the other.

The train came to a stop and the doors opened, parents running forwards to help their children with their luggage. Now that they were here, Harry could see that most of them had been waiting in the actual station beyond the barrier as to keep out of the rain. As Harry stood up and scooped Skylar into his arms he could see out of the window Narcissa Malfoy waiting impatiently amongst the other parents, a tall man in a suit holding an umbrella over her head.

"It's going to be murder trying to get them off here in their prams," said Ron, nodding towards the babies. "I didn't realise how many students were going home."

"He's right," said Hermione, standing up and stretching, "I think it's best I we carry them out. Ron's dad wrote and told us we were being taken to Grimmauld Place by a Ministry limo so there's no point in putting them in just to get them back out again."

She bent down and pushed her long hair behind her ears before picking up Joshua and cradling him in her arms. "I'm sure Mr Weasley or someone is out there waiting for us."

Harry stood there and looked around. The room was full of trunks and bags. Neville had already said his goodbyes and was outside greeting his grandmother and Luna was attempting to get her trunk out into the busy corridor.

"How the _hell_ are we supposed to get _all this _off as well as carrying the babies?" he asked.

"I could call for help," suggested Hermione, seeming to have noticed the problem as well. She went over to the window and looked out. Mrs Malfoy was still there. She kept throwing glances at someone in the crowd to her right and Harry followed her gaze to find Sirius stood there, accompanied by Tonks, Mad-Eye, and three people Harry didn't know, a woman and two men who he assumed worked for the Ministry.

"Come on," he said to the others, "If we get their attention they can come and get our trunks."

Ginny went first, dragging her trunk behind her, and soon Tonks had joined her, followed by the others who boarded the train to help with the luggage. Harry swung his bag carefully over his shoulder and stepped off the train. One of the ministry men immediately put up an umbrella over him and helped him through the crowd towards the barrier separating them from the muggle world. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Ron and Hermione were getting the same treatment and his other children were safe before stepping through the barrier into the breezy, but dry, station.

As soon as Ron and Hermione joined him the Ministry member led them out of Kings Cross and towards the limo awaiting them. They climbed in gratefully and got settled, sitting the children in the baby seats provided. They were soon joined by the others and they were on their way, driving through the busy streets of a rain-sloshed London.

Sirius was talking to the woman Harry didn't know and Mad-Eye was blabbing on about all the extra security that number 12 had been given since the summer. Hermione's parents, apparently, were joining them later on this week and would be celebrating Christmas with them all. Bill and Fleur, to Ron's delight, wouldn't be attending as they were holidaying in France, spending the festive season with Fleur's family.

"Getting to know the future in-laws," Ron muttered. "I don't know what he sees in her," he continued, "I mean, yeah, alright, she _is_ good-looking and yeah, she's pretty brave and smart when it comes to magic and stuff. And I suppose there _is_ that fact that her family's _really_ rich and all…

"But apart from that?" snapped Hermione.

"Harry," said Sirius, sparing him the need to answer to Ron's comments without hurting Hermione's feelings, "I want you to meet my favourite cousin, Andromeda." He indicated the woman sitting next to him and she held out her hand.

"Tonks' mother?" Harry asked politely, shaking her hand. At first Harry was surprised he hadn't recognised her from Tonks, but then again Tonks looked different almost everyday. The woman sitting opposite him had long, dark hair, much like that of her sister Bellatrix, but her face was much softer and her cheeks more rosy.

"Yep," she smiled, "It's nice to finally meet you Harry."

"You too," Harry smiled.

* * *

Sooner than Harry had expected, they pulled into Grimmauld Place. The Ministry men helped get the luggage out of the car before wishing them all a 'Merry Christmas' and pulling away. The rain was still falling but wasn't has heavy has it had been back in the city. As Harry got the triplets into their prams, so they had more hands free to help with the trunks, the street lamps flickered into life to illuminate the dark street. 

They walked in the direction of the house and muttered the password, watching the house materialise out of nowhere. Last time Harry had been here, the interior of the old wizarding house had been almost completely refurbished and it was now apparent that someone had been working extra hard on the garden as well. All the creeping weeds were gone and had been replaced by colourful flowers. The cracking paint around the windows and doors had been painted over and the fence surrounding the house was brand new.

Sirius knocked on the door and they entered the hall way and Harry was momentarily stunned. The landing and stairs banister was draped in white, sparkly cloth and tinsel was curling around the posts and picture frames. Fairy lights were scattered all over the walls and, just like Hogwarts, fake snow was falling gently above their heads, disappearing before it reached them. A huge, gold star shone brightly above the kitchen entrance and the floor was absolutely covered in fake snow. The portrait of Mrs Black scowled at them but didn't say anything. Actually, she looked rather tipsy.

"We still have to put up the Christmas tree," Sirius said to them as they put the trunks into the corner, "I thought you guys would like to help."

"Did you do all this yourself?" Hermione asked, following Sirius into the living room, watching with amazement as her footprints disappeared.

"Nah," he said, "I had a lot of help from Adromeda. Molly wasn't too thrilled about it at first though, we couldn't get the snow to stick and everyone kept tramping it all through the house."

"It's a winter wonderland," exclaimed Ginny, who was watching the glittering snow falling from the ceiling.

After having greeted everyone and getting the babies settled into their new rooms it was time to unpack their trunks, which for Harry was a chore in itself. He neatly folded the babies' clothes, blankets, and towels away into drawers before unpacking his own and by the time he had finished, Molly was calling him down for a late dinner.

Andromeda, it turned out, was a chef and owned quite a few fancy restaurants scattered about Europe. She was particularly skilled at French Cuisine and had spent a large number of years studying in Paris and New Orleans. Ron, who was afraid she was going to feed them Frogs Legs and Snails was, was treated to something called a 'Croque Monsieur' ,which was pretty much a ham and cheese sandwich, as well as a helping of rice and chicken soup. For desert she served up a 'Crepe Banane-Chocolate' which was delicious. Mrs Weasley was having the time of her life and had already taken numerous recipes from Andromeda. She and Andromeda, as well as Mrs Granger when she arrived, were going to be cooking Christmas dinner.

* * *

The next day, Harry woke up nice and early and he managed to shower and dress before the babies called him to his 'motherly' duties. He got them fed and dressed and carried them one by one downstairs, plonking them into the arms of the others who were already awake. They had agreed the night before that they would look after them for the most part of the day whilst he went into London to do some last minute shopping. Mrs Weasley insisted that they be accompanied by an adult as it still wasn't save to go out alone, but they assured her that they would be fine and that if anything happened they would apparate straight back home. (Hermione had passed her tests the year before and Ron during the summer. Harry hadn't passed yet but was able to do it.) Mad-Eye would have gone with them but he and Tonks had been called into the Ministry to give evidence on an attack that had happened some days ago. 

Finally, they were allowed to leave and they threw some powder into the fire and found themselves in The Leaky Cauldron. Witches and wizards were sat all around, joining in the festive cheer.

"Right," said Ron, looking around the brightly lit pub, "First things first; money."

After they had collected enough money from their vaults they started their steady exploration of Diagon Alley. Ron and Hermione had already done most of their Christmas shopping during Hogsmeade weekends so they helped Harry pick out gifts whilst doing a spot of window shopping themselves. Christmas trees were scattered all about the narrow lane and people were walking up and down singing carols and collecting money for a charity. All the window displays were decorated with tinsel and fairy lights, but the ominous posters warning people of the Dark Side still stood out amongst all the decoration but Harry did his best to ignore them and enjoy himself.

Luckily it wasn't raining so they were free to wander around outside, stopping here and there to look in shop windows at the fancy displays. Witches and wizards greeted them merrily as they passed by in the street, perhaps more attention directed towards Harry than he would have liked.

Sometime during the afternoon they had strayed out into muggle London as Hermione had thought the magical baby toys 'far too advanced and dangerous for two month old babies'. Harry settled for getting them some more teddies; after all, they weren't exactly aware of what was happening and they were, as Hermione said, too young for most of the toys that were on sale. They stopped in at McDonalds for a hamburger and fries before venturing out again onto the busy high streets.

"What are you getting Remus?" asked Hermione, "Any ideas?"

"None whatsoever," he said, peering in at shop windows as he passed.

"Well, what does he like?" asked Ron, swinging a bag of teddies happily.

"Er…I'm not sure actually…"

"You mean, you're in love with the man yet you don't know what his interests are?"

"Of course I do…he likes books and cardigans and Defence Against the Darks Arts…"

"Obviously," muttered Ron.

"Well have you got any better ideas?" asked Harry.

"How about something, you know, kinky?" suggested Hermione and Harry looked at her as Ron stared at her with wide eyes.

"I don't know what you two get up to, but bondage isn't exactly my thing," he laughed.

"We don't do anything like _that!_" said Ron in a high voice.

"It doesn't have to be something _completely_ kinky," she said, "I was just suggesting that you might want something _sexy_, you know? For the bedroom?"

"I can't believe you guys are actually talking about this in a _crowded street_," muttered Ron but they both ignored him.

"Well," said Harry, considering slightly, "We haven't really, you know, for eleven months now so I suppose it _would_ help…I mean, we _were_ planning on getting a bit of alone time together over Christmas…"

"Then that'd be perfect," she smiled, "Come on." And she grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd.

"Don't you have to be 18 to go in those sort of shops?" he asked as he allowed himself to be pulled along on the street.

"You don't have to go to those shops, you can go to normal places," she said; then, turning to look at him with a trace of a grin on her face, "Unless you were looking for something _really_ kinky?"

"No," he said quickly, struggling not to laugh at the mortified look on Ron's face, "Normal, sexy lingerie is just fine."

They joined the small throng of people waiting at the traffic lights to cross over the busy road. Ron was looking at his girlfriend rather suspiciously with a surprised, yet intrigued look on his face.

"Since when have you had a knowledge of all this sort of stuff?" he asked.

"I'm an _18 year old girl_ Ron," she said, "Just because I like to study and read doesn't mean I can't indulge myself every once in a while."

* * *

They returned to the house just before dark, having made an entire day of their shopping trip. Harry dumped his many bags in his bedroom upstairs before settling down on the floor in front of the fire. 

"How have they been?" he asked as Sirius came through the door with Joshua in his arms.

"Absolute angels," he smiled, sitting down, "I've never known them to be so good."

"Where are the girls?" he asked.

"Molly's just changing one of them and Albus has the other," he said.

"Dumbledore's here?"

"Yeah, he came by earlier this afternoon. There aren't a lot of students staying at Hogwarts so he's come by for a few hours. I think he said he and Minerva would be here for Christmas – they're leaving the other teachers in charge. So, did you get all your shopping done?"

"Yeah, I…" But before he could finish, the living door was flung open and Mad-Eye came in followed by a frantic Remus.

"God, I've been so worried!" said Remus, seeing Harry. "They said you'd gone into London and we didn't know if you'd gotten back yet."

"Why, what's wrong?" asked Sirius, as Harry sat up.

"Death Eaters!" said Mad-Eye. "A dozen of them just attacked muggle London. Half of Oxford Street is in pieces!"

"What? When did this happen?"

"20 minutes ago," he said, "They just appeared and blew everything up! Loads of muggles have been killed. The Ministry's in a state of panic, they don't know what to do. When do you get back?"

Harry sat there silently, staring at the two frantic men, his mind reeling. "20 minutes ago," he said quietly. "We must have left…just has it happened. They just missed us."

* * *

**A/N:** 2 updates in 2 days! Aren't I doing well? AND it's longer than the last one. Fair enough, it isn't THAT long but we're getting there...I'm getting back into the swing of things again.


	25. Babies, Wine, and Christmas Time

**Title:** Boy-Who-Lived: Father-To-Be

**Author: **SweetMercy

**Rating:** M

**Warnings:** mpreg, slash, may have small references to HBP, has naughty swear words!

**Pairings:** RL/HP

* * *

**A/N: **I know, I know - you wanna kill me right? I'm SO sorry it's taken forvever (again) to update! But coursework is driving me insane! Every time I hand a piece in, I get some from another subject! Now, thankfully, it's ALL handed in once and for all, BUT they decided to give me loads of homework instead. I thought I'd be able to get a break during the Easter half term, but no! ARGH! I hate college sometimes!

Anyways, I'm sorry about this chapter. I couldn't finish it off the way I wanted to, so I decided to cut it down and make it into 2 chapters. The next chapter is doing my head in, but as soon as I get passed that then thigns should (hopefully) be back to normal. Thanks for sticking with me guys!

* * *

**Chapter 25: Babies, Wine, and Christmas Time**

Every single muggle and magic paper reported the attacks the next day, but whilst muggle papers such as _The Daily Mail_ reported the news as terrorist attacks, papers such as _The Daily Prophet_ alerted them all to the true nature of the attack.

An Order meeting had been called immediately to discuss the matter. It sounded as though they couldn't decide what the reason of the attack had been; had Voldemort wanted to demonstrate what he was capable of and cause a scare in both muggle and magical worlds? Or had he intended Harry to be caught up in the attack? Whatever they decided upon, they all vowed never to let Harry out of their sights again.

Harry would have protested at this but something else had come up which he had completely forgotten about. The test results of the babies DNA test had come back and Healer Neeson wanted him to come to the Hospital and pick them up.

It turned out that one of the babies _did_, in fact, have the werewolf gene. Harry thought it was Leanna because of her amber eyes but it turned out to be Joshua, the quiet one. She explained again that he could become susceptible to the condition later on in life, something which greatly upset Remus. As Harry tried to comfort him, the Healer gave him the right potions which Joshua would have to take once every day (for the rest of his life!) to help keep the gene at bay. They were aware that there was still a 25 percent chance of the gene becoming active however, but Healer Neeson reminded them that that was very low.

Mr and Mrs Granger arrived that afternoon and were introduced to everybody. Hermione had kept them up to date about everything that had been happening in the wizarding world and at school so they knew all about Voldemort and Harry being a father which meant that a lot of awkward questions were avoided and they were free to talk freely around them.

They all joined in with the decoration of the large tree and presents soon began to accumulate underneath it, awaiting the arrival of Christmas day. The babies must have sensed the excitement in the air for they were demanding more attention than usual. The more people to arrive at the house, the more attention they wanted; they loved being cooed over by so many different faces and Harry could swear he could see the beginnings of smiles forming on their sweet, little faces, and their eyes lit up when they looked at Sirius' 'winter wonder land' in the hall.

As the week went on, more guests started to arrive. It seemed they had the whole of The Order under the roof for the Holidays now; every single bedroom was taken. Fred and George were here as well as Charlie, who, it turned out, was now dating Tonks. Hermione's parents seemed to be getting on rather well with everyone - despite being the only muggles in the house - and they weren't in the least bit phased by all the magic being used around them.

At times, Harry had found himself forgetting that not everyone knew about himself and Remus. They'd be stood around the kitchen table, laughing and joking with everyone else, and he'd suddenly find his arm locked around Remus' waist. Luckily though, everyone was far too busy to notice, but he made a mental note to keep his actions in check in the future.

He found himself constantly locked in fantasies of what was to come, _hopefully_, on Christmas day. At first he'd felt slightly guilty about leaving the babies in the care of the others on Christmas but he reminded himself that he needed the break. He and Remus were going to get some alone time even if it killed them (which hopefully, it _wouldn't_). He planned on placing candles about their bedroom and setting a bottle of champagne on ice, soft music playing in the background. He'd have red silk sheets on the big, four poster bed, maybe even scatter a few flowers about the room. It would start with Harry offering to give Remus a massage with sensual oils and he'd place soft kisses to the back off his neck. His hands would manoeuvre their way under Remus, teasing the skin they found there before moving away. Remus would look up and beg Harry to kiss him, who would oblige before rolling him over and straddling his waist and from there they would go on to make sweet love to one another.

Well, that was the _plan_ anyway.

* * *

Harry woke up early on Christmas morning to the sound of Skylar's cries. He fastened his dressing gown around him and went into the babies' room next door. Picking her up, he made his way quietly (or as quietly as he could, what with her screaming) downstairs to prepare her feed. The kitchen was deserted and it was only when he looked at the clock that he realised just _how_ early it was. 

He had just sat down with Skylar on his knee when there was a knock on the front door. He ignored it at first but when the knock came again he sighed to himself and got up to answer it. _Who in the right mind comes calling at this hour?_

Juggling the baby on his hip and managing to keep the bottle in her mouth, he reached out and unlocked the door. There, in the early winter morning sunlight stood a man in a long, black robe and cloak, his long, black hair falling loosely down the sides of his faces. It was Snape.

"Oh," he said, "Hello Professor, Merry Christmas."

"Indeed," he said, looking at the baby suckling from the bottle in Harry's arms.

"What are you doing here?"

"The Headmaster insisted that I come for dinner and since he is rather more powerful than I am myself, it seemed stupid to say 'no'. Now, are you going to let me in or am I to stand here all day and freeze?"

Harry stood aside to let him in.

"Where is everyone?" Snape asked, looking around distastefully at the winter wonderland in the hall.

"Professor, it's 6 in the morning," he said, "They're all still in bed."

Snape unfastened the buttons on his cloak and hung it with the rest of them on the stand in the hall. He brushed his robes down and looked at Harry, who was still stood there looking at him.

"I take it your brat woke you up," he said, nodding to the baby in Harry's arms. "Well," he said, when Harry didn't respond, "Aren't you going to offer me a cup of coffee?" He swept passed Harry and seated himself at the wooden table in the kitchen. Harry followed.

"Why are you here so early?" he asked him as he sat down opposite him, not getting the man a coffee. Even though it was Snape, of all people, he was glad of the company. The big house gave him the creeps in the early hours.

"That's none of your business Potter," he said idly.

"I was just asking," he muttered, "Just trying to make civilized conversation."

They both sat in silence as Harry continued to feed Skylar, the only sound being made by her and the clock ticking quietly above the sink. A faint crying sound joined the semi-silence and it was a while before Harry realised that it was coming from the baby monitor in his pocket. He realised it was two sets of cries and he sighed again.

"You think you could look after this one for a few minutes?" he asked Snape, holding out his arms with the baby in them, but Snape backed away.

"No I don't," he said firmly, looking at the baby as if she were a bomb.

"Please," said Harry desperately, "The other two are crying and Remus can't handle them both by himself."

He realised what he'd said too late and he had to watch Snape's lips turn upwards into a smirk.

"And why would _Remus _be handling them at all?" he asked. "Why Remus? Why not someone else?"

"Because…because he's been helping me since they were born," he said, "Besides, I really don't think that's any of your business Professor."

They both stared at each other for a moment and Harry could have sworn he could see a glint of triumph in the other mans eyes. Finally, surprisingly, Snape held out his arms to receive the baby and Harry had to bite back a laugh as he imagined the look on Ron's face if he had seen Harry leaving his daughter in the care of the nasty Professor.

"Thanks," he smiled, "Just keep feeding her and she should be fine. And talk to her, she likes to listen to people's voices, it sooths her."

"I will _not_ talk to this infant," he said indignantly with a glare, but since he was holding the baby the glare didn't really have much of an affect.

"But she likes you," said Harry with a smile as he looked at the pair. Skylar had indeed snuggled up close to Snape's chest and was watching his face with her keen, little eyes.

"Potter!" he snapped, "If you're not back here in five minutes then I'm coming up there and dumping this _thing_ with you, is that understood?"

"You'd really hurt her feelings like that?" he asked, placing his hand mockingly over his heart. "I'll be right back, don't worry."

* * *

When he returned carrying Joshua, Snape immediately held out his arms. "Here, take her," he said, practically shoving Skylar at Harry. 

"Does it look like I have four arms?" he asked, skirting around Snape and picking a bottle up off the side.

"I thought the wolf was helping you," he said, glaring at Harry who was now checking the temperature of the bottle he had just heated up with his wand.

"He is," said Harry, "He's upstairs changing Leanna."

"You two spend far too much time together," he muttered, watching Harry's face closely.

"Leanna and I, or me and Remus?"

"Lupin," he said. Harry sat back down at the table again. Snape had looked away and was now, if Harry wasn't much mistaken, looking fondly at the baby cradled in his arms, stroking her soft baby hair.

"It suits you," smiled Harry, watching this interaction.

"What, precisely, suits me Mr Potter?"

"This," he said, nodding towards Skylar, "Fatherhood."

"You're avoiding the subject, Potter," he said.

"I wasn't aware there was a subject," said Harry innocently. "I am aware, however, that you're avoiding my little observation there."

"What 'little observation'?" Snape was getting agitated now but Harry wasn't worried. He wasn't sure how he knew it exactly, but he was certain that Snape wouldn't raise his voice around the babies.

"That fatherhood suits you."

"That, Mr Potter, was nothing more than a stupid, dim-witted, comment," he said as calmly as he could.

"Say what you want about it," said Harry, looking back down at Joshua, "But I know there's something much deeper to it."

"And I know there's something much deeper between Remus and yourself," he smirked.

"You're changing the subject," said Harry.

"I wasn't aware there was one," he answered, throwing Harry's earlier words back at him.

* * *

When everyone was finally awake, showered, and dressed, they all gathered around the large Christmas tree that stood in the living room. Mcgonagall and Dumbledore sat by the glowing winter fire, each with a baby on their knee. Harry sat on the floor opposite them, watching the scene happily as the presents were passed around. It was very rare to have everyone close (and not so close) all gathered together to share in something like this; there was Mr and Mrs Weasley – his surrogate parents; Mcgonagall and Dumbledore – his favourite teachers who cared a lot about him; then there were his best friends, his beloved Godfather, his children, and his Remus – his lovely, caring, adorable Remus. He loved Christmas. And the fact that he could share it with someone new – Hermione's parents and Sirius' cousin – that was an added bonus. Even Snape's presence was appreciated. 

"This one's for…Ginny, here you go love," said Mrs Weasley, handing her daughter one of many colourful packages. "And this one is for…Fred. Oh, I dread to think what's in there…"

"Hermione," read out Sirius, "This one is for you, and Ginny, here's another one."

When the babies received their presents (indeed, they had actually received more presents than anyone else) everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. Dumbledore helped Joshua undo the shiny wrapping paper and everyone 'awww'd' when his little face lit up with delight as he saw the little black dog teddy bear (from Sirius). It was the same with the other two; they seemed simply to be in total awe of what was happening, with all these gifts being bestowed upon them.

The most surprising present of all was when Hermione opened her present from Ron. Harry had half expected Ron to pop the question to Hermione, what with all the drama that had been happening lately, but was somewhat relieved (he didn't want them rushing into it!) when he saw the shape of the package, which couldn't possibly hold a ring. It was, in fact, two plane tickets to Rome, where they would be spending the rest of the Holidays, and would be leaving tomorrow. Ron later confided in Harry that Fred and George had lent him the money. Besides, he was rather excited about going on a plane and felt that Hermione deserved a break as she was forever doing his homework with him (or _for_ him, as the case usually was).

Fred and George had gotten everyone jokes from their shop, which Dumbledore delighted in, claiming he was going to have immense fun with the other teachers when term began. Ginny, from her parents, had received the boots she had begged and begged them to buy her and now wouldn't take them off, she was so thrilled.

Remus and Harry exchanged gifts along with a promise that there would be more to come later on. However, for the time being Remus had gotten him a gorgeous baby photo album which he had already begun to fill in. There were pictures of the babies just after they had been born and the most recent pictures must have been taken sometime yesterday because they were all lying under the tree, scattered amongst the presents; there was even one of Harry asleep snuggled up with Joshua.

As well as the 'bedroom present' Harry had planned for Remus, he hadn't been able to resist buying a gold locket for him. The locket contained a picture of each baby, their little faces lit up and smiling.

Whilst everyone was opening presents and hugging each other, Harry had watched Snape open his presents. It was interesting to watch, really; Christmas seemed to make Snape seem normal.

After Snape had opened the presents containing books and socks (Harry suspected Dumbledore was guilty of that offence) he came to a slim package. He opened it and Harry saw the light shining through the windows fall on a gold chain, the pendant encrusted with emeralds. Snape seemed to forget himself as he ran his finger over it, looking at it in wonder. But as quick as this little lapse had been, he became himself again, hiding the necklace from view and looking around to see if anyone had been watching. Harry quickly averted his eyes, noticing a card lying at Snape's feet as he did so. Snape picked this up and his eyes stared at whatever was written on it. He then placed it in his robe pocket and continued with his presents.

After all the wrapping paper had been discarded (Harry insisted that the shiny paper be kept as it kept the babies quiet) ,work began on Christmas dinner. Mrs Weasley, Mrs Granger, and Andromeda retreated to the kitchen whilst everyone else settled down in the living room. Snape, however, kept to himself, preferring to watch the others fuss over the babies rather than be a part of it himself. In fact, Harry thought he seemed to be in deep thought and Harry suspected it was over the pendant.

"Would you like some wine Harry?" asked Mcgonagall, and that was when Harry made up his mind.

"Yes please, Professor," he smiled, tearing his eyes away from Snape. As she poured it into a glass for him, Harry heard Snape dismiss himself from the company of the room. Harry took a sip of the wine as Mcgonagall moved onto Hermione, who was still hugging Ron over her present.

"I'm just going getting something," Harry said to no one in particular, "Mind the kids for me will you?" And he got up and followed Snape out into the hall just in time to see his robes sweep around the corner on the landing upstairs. He quickly followed, cursing himself as he did for his stubborn curiosity, and as he turned the corner he bumped into something solid, his drink spilling all over the man he had just collided with.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry Professor," he fussed, setting his empty glass on the stair banister. "You better take that off quickly or it's gonna stain."

As Snape was muttering curses at the boy, Harry reached out and tried to help him with his robe, only to have his hand batted away.

"I am quite capable of taking my robe off myself, Potter," he snapped, pulling it over his head. "You should watch where you're going in future! How in Merlin's name you hope to defeat the Dark Lord with your capabilities, I have no idea."

He got his robe off and Harry automatically reached out to take it, his hand closing on the soft fabric. "Here, let me go and bung that in the washing machine."

"In case you haven't noticed, Potter, I am a _wizard_," he snarled.

"I was just trying to…"

"Help?" he snapped, "The job would be much better done if you stayed out of it Potter. I would have thought you'd learn by now that whenever you 'help out' things end in disaster."

"Fine," Harry snapped, "There's no need to be so rude about it."

But as Snape stalked away again down the hall, Harry had to congratulate himself because in his hand he held the card which Snape had received with the pendant.

* * *

"Snape's got a secret admirer!" he exclaimed excitedly when he had Ron and Hermione on their own. 

"What?" asked Ron incredulously.

"A secret admirer!" he said again, "I took this from him, listen," and he read out the card; "_Severus, Merry Christmas. I hope one day to bring you as much joy as the festive season tends. With my deepest love, yours always_…and there's no name!"

"But who'd you think would send that?" asked Ron, taking the card from Harry and reading it himself, "What came with it? Was it just the card?"

"Nope," smiled Harry, "They sent him a gold necklace. Looked pretty expensive."

"But who in their right mind would spend all that money on Snape?"

"Harry," said Hermione slowly, "How did you get this?"

"Get what?"

"The card!"

"Oh," he said, "I just, you know, got it."

"Where from Harry?"

"Does it matter?" said Ron, "This is proof that some poor sod's lusting after Snape!"

"I really don't think it's any of our business," she reprehended them. "This is Professor Snape's private life and we shouldn't be snooping around in it."

"Oh come on 'mione, you know you're as curious as we are as to who sent it," said Ron, waving the card in front of her nose.

"It isn't our business," she said again. "And Harry, I really think you ought to put that card back exactly where you found it."

"Yeah, well, that might be a bit of a problem," he muttered, taking the card from Ron and putting it in his pocket.

"And why would that be?" she asked, annoyed.

"Because," he said, "I took it from Snape's robe pocket."

"You what?" laughed Ron, "How'd you manage _that_?"

"I 'accidentally' spilt my drink on him," he told them.

"Well you better make sure he gets it back, Harry Potter," she ordered, "It might mean something to him."

"I doubt it," said Harry, "I could tell by his face when he opened it that he didn't know who it was from."

"It could just be someone playing a joke," Ron suggested, ignoring his fuming girlfriend.

"With something that expensive?" questioned Harry, "Nah, whoever it was, they meant it."

But as the day progressed, they didn't find any clues as to who the mystery person was. Since Hermione refused to help them, they had struggled to cast all the appropriate spells on it to try and make the handwriting reveal itself. Harry was so sure he recognised the writing though, he just couldn't place it at all. Ron had joked that it looked like Remus' writing so Harry had pushed him off his chair. But in the end they had been forced to give up and Harry had slipped the card under Snape's bedroom door (after wiping his finger prints from it, of course).

Christmas dinner was one of the most excellent meals he had ever had. They had really out done themselves this year. Every single piece of food that made up a traditional Christmas dinner was laid out before them on the table, and the turkey was so succulent it made his mouth water. The wine was flowing, bottle upon bottle being passed around the crowded table, and there was delightful chatter all about them.

After dinner was finished, everyone broke up and went their separate ways, off to examine and enjoy their Christmas gifts better. Harry decided that now was a good enough time to start to piece together his little seduction plan. Whilst Dumbledore and Mcgonagall sat around the fire with Remus, playing with the triplets, Harry snuck away. He had been waiting for this moment ever since he had got together with Remus back in the summer and he was determined it would go perfectly.

* * *

**A/N:** I know I should be working on this, but as I explained at the top in the A/N, the next chapter was annoying me. So I started another fic. It's a Harry/Severus and it's a sort of atempt at humour, although it's not that funny really... I hope you'll check it out when I post it. It's based on the film 'The Full Monty' if any of you have seen it. 


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